There’s no visible effect if they only use the plant juices. Everyone was surprised to with the results when they tanned the hides using the stock solution made with Yan Mo’s method. The ratio they used was 3 plant juice : 1 red salt : 6 water. They soaked the pelts with the 1 stock solution : 7 water and steeped the pelts with increased concentration each day, while stirring the pelts frequently every time new solution was added in. Using this way, the resulting hides will be much, much better than the hides they’ve tanned before.
These findings have opened up Yan Mo’s thoughts. He would later study that plant juice and start to test other plant juices as stock solution bases. He’d conduct various experiments on hides, including the treatment later. Through these researches, he actually found a tanning formula close to the modern days’ version.
Tanning hides using that formula would make the furs on the hides stronger and glossier, it’s not as easily infested by bugs. The hides won’t be smelly, it was as water resistant and anti-drying as the normal hides in the modern days.
These are all in the future, we won’t talk about it for now.
Yan Mo attached great importance to these eight children. If you included the little A’wu, there were nine children in total.
These nine children would be taught his knowledge and various ideologies. Not only will they be his most useful help, they will also be talents that will be the backbone of the Jiuyuan tribe.
He’d naturally have to see if these kids can take up enormous responsibility later. He will not only be teaching these nine children. Frankly, these children were his test group and just the first batch of students he would be teaching.
Once these kids arrive, Yan Mo first fed them until they’re full and let them have a good rest for a night — When Jiu Feng’s wings got better, he disdained to keep staying in the narrow little stone house and had gone back to his cave nest on the cliff.
To let the little children feel more at ease, Yan Mo also took the kid A’wu to stay with them so they could sleep and eat together.
Yan Mo left them. The children immediately surrounded A’wu.
Yan Mo didn’t know what A’wu said to his little friends. The next day when he saw them again, these little kids looked at him with a gaze that’s pretty much like how he used to look at his elementary school teacher.
Yan Mo didn’t say a word as he entered the stone house. He just put down ten odd-looking stone tools that looked the same. These stone tools look similar to the stone picks the little monsters have used, but only one end was sharp, the other end was flatter, like a stone knife.
These nine stone tools were what Yuan Zhan made with the inspiration he got from the monster’s stone picks. Yan Mo saw the big version he made and stopped in his tracks. He then told Yuan Zhan he wanted ten more of these tools, but smaller. He told Yuan Zhan, this thing will be called ‘pickaxe’ later.
Yan Mo took one of the small pickaxes on the ground, then pointed at the remaining nine others and waved to the kids in the house. He turned around and walked out of the house.
Those kids looked at their friends, looking at that friend and this friend, then everyone looked at A’wu.
A’wu was very confused. He tried coming up and took one of the pickaxes. He saw that Yan Mo, who stood outside the house, didn’t react, so he held his pickaxe and walked out of the house too.
The rest of the kids saw what A’wu did and also scrambled up to grab the pickaxes.
Some of the bigger kids were stronger and pushed the smaller kids away. They picked the pickaxes they liked and walked out of the house.
Only after they left did the smaller kids dare to come up and pick their own pickaxes.
Yan Mo just stood outside of the house and watched those kids. When all of them had taken pickaxes and walked out, he wordlessly put down his pickaxe and looked at those kids.
Those kids got confused. A’wu scratched his head and looked back at his companions. He also put down his pickaxe on the ground while keeping his eyes on Yan Mo’s face.
And so, the other kids also followed him and put down their pickaxes.
Yan Mo bent down and grabbed his pickaxe again, then pointed to other pickaxes on the ground in front of the kids.
The children had a face full of questions. None of them knew what Priest-daren meant.
When A’wu hesitantly picked up his pickaxe again. The other kids then rushed over and fought over pickaxes, but when the bigger kids started pushing away the smaller kids, Yan Mo put his pickaxe on the ground again.
The same thing repeated several times until none of the kids dared to pick the pickaxes again.
“What is Priest-daren doing?” The children whispered amongst themselves.
“What does he want us to do?” The little kids didn’t have an adult’s patience yet. They started to get agitated. Some of them were cold and they kept stamping their feet. They really wanted to go back to the stone house with the fire burning in it. That’s the warmest place they’ve slept in during winter.
The tallest kid among them, with messy hair and distinctive straight eyebrows, looked at little A’wu then looked at Priest-daren who was looking at them expressionlessly. He tried out walking forward. He went to the front of the pickaxe and grabbed one of them.
The other kids also went up and took the pickaxes following his example, even shoving each other to get to the pickaxes quicker.
But this time, the kid with straight brows shouted, “Stop!”
It seemed that the rest of the kids were somewhat scared of the straight-brows. They all stopped moving when he suddenly yelled, only two other kids as big as the straight-brows didn’t take him seriously and still went to take their pickaxes.
Straight-brows didn’t manage those two. He pointed at the smallest kid, “You, come.”
That kid looked at Yan Mo first, then fearfully and slowly walked up.
Straight-brows put his pickaxe in that kid’s hand, then waved his hand, “Go there.”
The smallest kid looked back at his companion, then looked again at Straight-brows. Finally he looked at Yan Mo. When he saw that Priest-daren didn’t seem to have any objections, he obediently went to the side while carrying the pickaxe.
Straight-brows bent down and picked one of the pickaxes again, then pointed at the second smallest kid, “You, come.”
Like that, Straight-brows distributed the remaining pickaxes to each kid in order of their height.
The children all looked towards Yan Mo.
Yan Mo gave them the first smile of the day. There were several possibilities that he would like to see. Straight-brows had shown him the answer he wanted to see the most.
Seeing Priest-daren’s smile, all of them inexplicably let out a breath, especially Straight-brows. But the way he puffed out a breath was not as obvious as the other kids.
Yan Mo reached for something in his medicine pouch, then approached Straight-brows.
Straight-brows’ hands and feet shivered a bit, and his heartbeat slowly quickened. He didn’t know if what he did was correct or not and he didn’t know what Priest-daren wanted to do to him. He’s afraid but he felt a faint anticipation in him.
All the other kids looked at Yan Mo.
Yan Mo walked to Straight-brows’ front and grabbed his dirty black hands, putting the thing in his hand into Straight-brows’ dirty little hands.
It was something extraordinary for the other kids. Everyone wanted to see what Priest-daren had given Straight-brows.
Straight-brows lowered his head. At the centre of his filthy palm, was a dark brown fruit the size of a thumb. The outer shell looked very hard.
Although he had never seen this fruit and didn’t know what it was for, Straight-brows’ heart was beating so violently it felt like it would jump out of his chest. He felt so excited he felt a rush of blood all over his body, especially his face. In a blink of an eye, his face was red amidst all the black dirt.
The other children couldn’t see the item Priest-daren gave Straight-brows clearly and wanted to rush over. One of the two big kids who didn’t listen to Straight-brows and snatched their own pickaxes now looked at him with a deep envy in his eyes. The rest of the children were also looking at him with jealousy and envy, but not as much as this kid.
Yan Mo carefully looked at the child’s expression and smiled again. He rummaged through his medicine pouch for one more thorn hazelnut. The other kids saw him taking out something else and looked at him with expectation.
But this time Yan Mo just raised the nut in his palm towards Straight-brows and put the hazelnut on a stone outside of the house, then lightly knocked his pickaxe on the hazelnut.
The outer shell of the hazelnut cracked open and Yan Mo put the snow white nut inside into his mouth.
Straight-brows hesitated a bit. He looked at the fruit in his palm like he couldn’t bear to crack it open, but he still did as Yan Mo did and cracked the nut. He didn’t control his strength well. The nuts inside got smashed into pieces.
Straight-brows carefully gathered the smashed pieces of the nuts, then poured all of them into his mouth.
Right after, the little Straight-brows’ eyes lit up. So delicious! So fragrant!
Yan Mo was very satisfied with the little kid’s reaction. It was rather hard to make Er Meng to roast out a pan of hazelnuts. At that time, he lied to Er Meng that this was medicine and kept every nut to himself.
The tools were distributed, the reward was given. Yan Mo waved towards the little kids, turned around, and started walking again.
A’wu was the first kid who chased after him again. He clenched his fist tightly, vowing in his heart that he would definitely do better than Straight-brows. He was the first person to arrive here and was the one who spent the most time with Priest-daren.
The other kids followed up, too. Straight-brows now fell to the last one. He felt as if he had understood something, but still felt like it was still vague.
Yan Mo walked at the very front, followed by a line of little ducklings behind him.
“Chiiiek—?” Jiu Feng was leaving to hunt when he caught sight of this group of people. It looked fun to him so he followed them for a while.
Yan Mo whistled to him and waved his hand, telling him to play elsewhere.
Jiu Feng’s not willing to go.
The little kids were very scared because the mountain god was flying above their heads, but they’re also very, very curious. They walked while peeping at the mountain god Jiu Feng, and as a result some children fell down while walking.
Yan Mo didn’t manage what’s happening behind him, he only kept looking at the road in front of him.
A’wu was impatient with his little companions, who were moving so slowly, and kept rushing them with A’wu language. “Quick follow, follow!”
The kid who was very envious of Straight-brows had very beautiful and big pair of eyes. When some of the kids fell down, he first looked at Yan Mo in front of them. When he saw that Priest-daren didn’t even till his head back, he just walked around the kids who had fallen.
Straight-brows who was at the end of the line scratched his head. He took a glance at the Priest-daren in front who didn’t even turn back and didn’t seem to slow down even a bit, then turned back and pulled up a small kid who had fallen. He yelled at the other big kid, “Sa!”
The kid called Sa was one of the big kids who snatched their own pickaxes. He heard the Straight-brows yelling his name and understood what he wanted to do when he saw what Straight-brows was doing. The kid curled his lips but still went back and helped Straight-brows to help the fallen kids up.
This naughty kid wasn’t gentle when he helped people up. He shoved them and then shouted at all of his companions, “Walk, follow! Next time, leave you!”
A’wu stopped walking and went back to help, even though he was also one of the smallest in the group. He actually didn’t really understand what these actions meant. He just thought, whatever that Straight-brows did, he would also do.
The Big-eyes heard the movements behind him. His eyes moved around a bit before he turned around and went to help kids smaller than him. While helping one kid up, he looked back at the person in front, but Priest-daren didn’t look back. It made him feel very bummed, so he also shouted, “Stand! follow! Don’t look at god!”
With the example and warning from the three big kids, the small kids who could get up on their own quickly followed the group. No one dared to peek at Jiu Feng in the sky again. Everyone followed behind Yan Mo and walked in a well-behaved manner.
The road was not smooth, and they’re walking in the snowy weather. Although the route wasn’t that long, these kids had followed Yan Mo to walk around for nearly one hour by now.
The big kids managed better, but the smaller kids walked staggeringly. It was really hard to walk quickly and steadily on snow.
The three big kids would either pull them along or support them. They couldn’t really quicken their steps this way, but they didn’t throw away the companions who were dragging their hindlegs, this including that naughty little Big-eyes. The other kids also helped each other as they walked up. If someone fell down and couldn’t get up by themselves, they would ask for help from their other friends.
Even though it was rather difficult journey, none of the kids fell behind. The youngest among them was around 7 years old, but they didn’t find walking a long distance for over one hour that hard. They were already used to such hardship, they were used to having to walk a long distance after leaving their homes. In addition, they all knew that falling behind would mean that not being able to return home.
Yan Mo finally stopped walking. He turned around and looked at the children.
He wasn’t worried the kids will fall behind the group or that some wild beast would snatch them away. These plains were still within the range Jiu Feng’s ‘home’. They hadn’t even walked out of the front gate, the so-called gate was the salt lake.
Still, he quickly counted the number of the kids remaining with his eyes. Nine children, not one less. No one was injured too, but each kid was shivering from the cold.
Yan Mo nodded. He gave the children a thin smile, especially the three big kids.
Big-eyes was instantly excited, his small chest stuck out high.
The naughty little Sa was also looking at Priest-daren with sparkling eyes. He couldn’t stop muttering inside: will he give me nice food? Will he?
While Straight-brows seemed to be a bit embarrassed and looked to the other side.
This time, Yan Mo counted nine nuts and gave each of the kids one nut.
The children were over the moon! It was just a small, ordinary fruit, but their expressions were as if they had received a giant bull.
The process of cracking nuts was not very smooth. There were no stones on the ground now. When they put the nuts on the snow, hitting them will not crack the nuts and would only bury it into the snow.
Some of the kids looked distressed. The worst feeling is having food in your hand, but you can’t eat it.
Big-eyes was the most anxious one of the group. He circled around on the spot a few times then yelled, “Sa! Give me.”
Big-eyes pointed to little brat Sa’s pickaxe.
Sa hugged his pickaxe tightly and looked at Big-eyes with vigilance, “No.”
Big-eyes immediately lurched forward to beat Sa, but Straight-brows clutched on his hair.
Big-eyes screamed.
Straight-brows bared his teeth, “Give you! Shut up!”
Big-eyes looked at Straight-brows’ pickaxe in front of him and stopped screaming at once. He grabbed the pickaxe.
Straight-brows didn’t understand why he wanted to grab others’ pickaxes when he already had his own, but he just silently watched what Big-eyes wanted to do, worried that Big-eyes would break his tool.
Big-eyes put Straight-brows’ pickaxe on the snow and then put his nut on the centre of the pickaxe, using his pickaxe to knock onto the nut lightly.
“Oh—!” The little children around them exclaimed.
Big-eyes picked up the snow-white pulp from within the shell, then looked at everyone around him with a smug pride. His big eyes also looked at the Priest-daren full of expectation.
Yan Mo smiled and took out one more nut, rewarding Big-eyes again.
Big-eyes received the second reward and couldn’t hold back from exclaiming and jumping around.
The little excited kid startled Yan Mo with his shouts and jumps.
Big-eyes didn’t eat his second reward. Instead, he carefully looked for a place to store it for safekeeping in his clothes.
The other children didn’t have the time to get jealous of him. They were borrowing each other’s pickaxes and impatiently trying to get the pulp inside out so they could eat it.
Yan Mo went over to the little Straight-brows’ side and stretched out a hand to stroke his messy little head. He gave him another nut as a reward.
This time, Straight-brows’ face was not just red. He looked as if he was boiling and about to spout steam out of his nose and ears.
Little brat Sa was looking at the pickaxe he was hugging tightly. When he saw Priest-daren rubbing Straight-brows’ head, his small face quickly turned sullen. Hu hu, he also wanted Priest-daren to stroke his head.
The other children didn’t care about their nuts anymore, especially Big-eyes. When they noticed Priest-daren put his hand on Straight-brows’ head, they collectively yelled, “Huaa—!”
Those envious expressions were as if Straight-brows was going to ascend to heaven or something.
Even Yan Mo didn’t expect that him stroking their heads will give this kind of effect. The reaction was even bigger than giving them rewards. He didn’t know that in these kids’ eyes, only the chief and old shaman could get the privilege of having Priest-daren stroke their heads. But now, Straight-brows had become the third person after chief and old Shaman who to have his head touched by Priest-daren. How can they not be jealous?
Big-eyes howled with envy, wanting to pounce on Straight-brows and bite him to death. It was obviously him who thought of the method, why was Straight-brows the one who got a head rub? Hu hu hu, if he had known this would happen, he would have given Straight-brows his weird stone tool and let him use it instead.
Watching these kids lose themselves with all the excitement, Yan Mo just shrugged his shoulders and retracted his hand from Straight-brows’ head. He pointed at the land in front of them that had dried out grasses.
The wild grasses were as tall as one metre to one metre and half. Snow had buried their roots and had turned into a withered yellow colour.
Yan Mo said something to the kids for the first time today, “This is broombush, today, your job is to gather a pile of broombush home.”
Author’s note (translated):
Interview of fake god messenger’s class opening
Reporter: You are a scumbag. Why did you start your lesson with telling the kids to be kind, friendly and to help each other?
Yan Mo: Teach a bunch of little scumbags so they can pit (scum) me in the future? Is my brain broken?
Reporter: Which one do you like the most right now?
Yan Mo: None of them. Bunch of dirty brats with mucus dripping out of their noses. After they’ve learnt to scrub themselves clean, we’ll see. Did you see them? They’re eating their own snots!!!!
Reporter: All little kids are like this…
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