Su Bai tidied up the Wolf Tail Grass Paper on the table, intending to have someone show the patterns to Ru first.
“Shaman, may I come in?” Mai Mang asked at the door. He had come over after seeing the Spotted Deer Tribe people leave.
“Come in,” Su Bai’s gentle voice sounded.
“Shaman, they’ve left. We gave them the ninety rolls of linen, and their dried meat has been checked. They are all fine.” Mai Mang reported.
Su Bai tapped the Wolf Tail Grass Paper on the table and nodded, “Good. You can tell the rest to resume training.”
“Yes, Shaman. But I just noticed they seemed very curious,” Mai Mang said, looking puzzled.
Su Bai’s thick black eyebrows furrowed almost imperceptibly as he asked, “What happened? Did you say anything to them?”
Mai Mang shook his head vigorously, saying, “We didn’t say anything. We just saw them constantly looking around our Tribe.”
“I see. They are curious, that’s all. Nothing that strange about it.” Su Bai had thought something serious had happened.
“They were curious about how our Tribe is so small, yet we have so much linen.” Su Bai said with a slight smile. [Anyone would be curious about this. A Tribe of just two to three hundred people is able to produce so much linen. It would be strange if it did not attract attention.
“Oh, that’s right. Their eyes did seem to be saying that,” Mai Mang suddenly realised.
“We can’t let them know about our production method. That’s our trump card,” Su Bai said, his lips curving upward.
Mai Mang immediately nodded and said, “I understand. We won’t let them know about this.”
He knew linen was the Tribe’s trump card. The reason the Tribe now had so much dried meat was all thanks to their linen. Of course, they could never let others know of the Tribe’s secret. Still, he was also curious about how the linen production speed was so fast.
Mai Mang had been particularly curious several times – if the linen production speed was so fast, why was the amount of linen that other Tribes brought to exchange for goods so small?
Later, he thought that it must be because the Shaman’s weaving machine was extremely powerful, allowing them to produce so much linen.
“Is there anything else? If not, you can go rest now. Eat your fill of meat tonight!” Su Bai waved his hand.
“Shaman, I have one more question,” Mai Mang said while scratched his big belly.
“Hmm?” Su Bai raised an eyebrow, asking, “What is it?”
Mai Mang looked back at the Teepee door flap, then turned back and asked, “Is just asking for two hundred people from the Spotted Deer Tribe enough? I remember the news Ye Jiu brought back. It is said that the Black Snake Tribe should have over a thousand people.”
He thought about how his own Tribe only had about three hundred people, and how few could actually participate in war. Just borrowing two hundred people from the Spotted Deer Tribe did not seem enough no matter how one looks at it.
“In war, the most important thing isn’t about having more people, but tactics. Of course, numbers are key.” Su Bai clearly said.
Mai Mang pondered for a while, still not understanding, and asked, “Shaman, we have a plan, right?”
“Haha… Go rest first. Don’t be too hasty,” Su Bai laughed heartily.
“Yes,” Mai Mang did not dare ask more and turned to leave the Teepee.
Yu Ying put the wooden stool in the corner of the Teepee and curiously asked , “Shaman, was that girl who came in just now also a Totem Warrior?”
The fox eared girl’s gaze had been on the deer horned girl the whole time. She thought the other’s eyes were very beautiful, and she looked very gentle. However, she was curious how such a gentle and charming girl could be a Totem Warrior.
Su Bai took a sip of water, swallowed, and said, “No, this is the second time I’ve met her. She’s the Daughter of the Shaman of the Spotted Deer Tribe.”
He had initially guessed that the deer horned girl was either the Daughter of the Chieftain or the Shaman of the Spotted Deer Tribe. Still, it was only from how the two looked just now, they clearly were not Father and Daughter. Since the two here did not look alike, she was obviously the Shaman’s Daughter.
“The Daughter of the Spotted Deer Tribe’s Shaman? That makes sense.” Yu Ying felt this had explained it. [No wonder she felt so different. She was so refined, and very beautiful too.]
“What’s wrong? You seem very interested in her.” Su Bai asked with amusement.
“No, I just thought of how beautiful she is. I thought she was a Totem Warrior, so I was a bit curious.” Yu Ying shook her head.
“You’re very beautiful too. Pour me a cup of water, please.” Su Bai’s pure voice sounded.
Yu Ying’s small face immediately turned red. She nodded, picked up the wooden cup, and turned to pour water, her fox tail swishing non-stop.
He remembered that back on Earth, many people wished Humans had tails too. In that case, when they saw someone they liked, their tail would start wagging. No matter how cool they tried to act, their little sways would betray their true feelings.
If a couple was not holding hands, their tails could hold each other, intertwined.
When it came time for nightly activities, they could use their tails to tease different places, maybe even adding an extra sensitive spot.
Thinking of this, Su Bai could not help but look at the fox eared girl’s pink fox tail, wondering if her tail was like that too.
“Shaman, did you say? I couldn’t catch that. Do you have any instructions for me?” Yu Ying curiously turned her head.
“It’s nothing. How’s the linen production going? We gave ninety rolls to the Spotted Deer Tribe, how much do we have left?” Su Bai asked.
Now the linen production speed in the Tribe was quite fast, averaging about ten rolls a day, so they had accumulated some.
Yu Ying immediately took out her Wolf Tail Grass Notebook, opened the first page, and saw some neatly written numbers.
However, these numbers were written very large, with just a few numbers filling up a whole page.
“We have ten rolls left.” Yu Ying read from the notebook.
“Ten rolls? Looks like by the time they come again, we’ll have accumulated another ninety rolls.” Su Bai nodded with satisfaction.
For the Tribe to have this production speed right from the start of linen weaving was quite impressive. A speed of ten rolls a day was truly astonishing.
This was all thanks to the loom, which saved a lot of time.
“It takes them four days to go back, and probably four days to come here again. Ninety rolls won’t be a problem,” Yu Ying said.
Su Bai’s index finger kept tapping lightly on the table as he asked, “What about our ceramics production? How many do we have now?”
Yu Ying continued flipping through her little notebook and said, “We have ten ceramic bowls and four ceramic jars.”
This number was excluding those made on the first day. These were all produced in the past two days.
“Hmm…” Su Bai pondered thoughtfully, considering whether to conduct their first ceramic trade when they next visit.
[noscript][/noscript]