The Primitive Tribe is about to rise (8): The joy of farming~~

Xiu Xiu, through the dragonfly scout device, saw this scene and projected the image into Si Qi’s mind.

Si Qi chuckled and said: [A rural villager from primitive society arrives in the big city?]

The sense of déjà vu was overwhelming!

Xiu Xiu suddenly understood: [Xiu Xiu was wondering why it looked so strange, I really wanted to make a comment but didn’t know how. Now that you’ve said it, Master, Xiu Xiu gets it!]

Si Qi wasn’t particularly concerned about what was happening with Elvin. He told Xiu Xiu to keep an eye on things and then went back to busying himself with his great farming endeavor.

Lately, there were tons of things that needed doing in the tribe. Si Qi watched the environment around him improve bit by bit, and all he had to do was stand there and say a few words. A group of people would then follow his instructions and get things done. It really felt like playing a simulation game, and he quite enjoyed it.

So while Si Qi focused on his work here, Xiu Xiu wholeheartedly followed the Child of the World around, watching the ongoing drama of “a country boy trying to fit into the big city.” Every so often, he’d see the Child of the World suffer setbacks in this large tribe, watching with great delight.

From time to time, he would even chat with Si Qi about his feelings while watching the “show,” ranting about the World Consciousness constantly protecting Elvin and assigning him hardship after hardship.

Xiu Xiu: [I don’t see anyone else going through as much trouble as the Child of the World. He’s always running into all kinds of dangers—he’s seriously busy!]

Si Qi replied bluntly: [Without the original owner’s golden finger, the World Consciousness will naturally arrange other opportunities for him. It’s normal.]

Xiu Xiu, discouraged: [Sigh, yeah… Even though the Child of the World is always in trouble, he always manages to come out okay in the end~]

Unlike TV viewers who loved seeing the protagonist overcome setbacks and gain rewards, Xiu Xiu preferred watching the protagonist suffer, get targeted, and fail. Just seeing the Child of the World’s darkened face when things went badly was enough to make Xiu Xiu happily snack on several more bags of junk food.

So every time Xiu Xiu reported to Si Qi, it was always about the Child of the World’s misfortunes.

[Xiu Xiu reporting: The competition in the big tribe is especially intense. If you don’t catch any prey, or if your contribution during the hunt isn’t significant, the team leader will scold you like crazy.]

Xiu Xiu said gleefully: [Because the Child of the World offended that wolf tribe member, he was excluded by the wolf beastmen. During the hunt, they kept intentionally or unintentionally getting in his way. He didn’t manage to accomplish anything with the team and got yelled at by the captain for a long time, things like “And you call yourself a lion? I’ve seen cats do better,” or “Are your claws just for scratching itches? You couldn’t even touch a boar’s tail.” It made the Child of the World furious, and all the team members were laughing at him.]

Si Qi: [So? What benefit did the Child of the World get afterward?]

Xiu Xiu looked frustrated as he sighed: [Sigh, afterward the Child of the World stormed off on his own in anger, ran into a pack of wild wolves. After a long fight, he killed over a dozen of them. When he brought them back to the tribe, the team was shocked. The captain acknowledged his strength and no longer let the wolf tribe beastmen target him.]

At the time, that wolf tribe beastman saw the Child of the World kill so many wolves and thought he was deliberately mocking him. Considering the strength the Child of the World had displayed, along with the captain’s warning, he could only swallow his anger and endure it for the time being, waiting for the next opportunity to go after him again.

Xiu Xiu continued with some schadenfreude: [Then, although the Child of the World made it through this trouble, he ended up pretty badly injured. Going up against that many wolves alone, he had bite and claw wounds all over him, his whole body was covered in blood.]

[He wanted to go to the Grand Shaman to ask for some healing herbs, but he didn’t even have the qualifications to meet the Grand Shaman. One of the Shaman’s students told him he had to trade something for the herbs—he needed to “pay.” The Child of the World didn’t know there was such a rule in the big tribe, and thought he was being targeted, that they were deliberately trying to let him die by refusing to give him medicine. He got so angry he started an argument, and it was only when the rabbit came out to smooth things over that it was settled.]

[The rabbit told him that the big tribe was different from the small one he came from. Injuries didn’t entitle you to free herbs anymore. He also said Elvin’s wounds weren’t serious enough to need herbs and would heal on their own.]

[The Child of the World, already frustrated, got even angrier hearing that and thought the rabbit man didn’t care about him at all.]

Xiu Xiu chuckled at this point: [I really don’t know what the rabbit was thinking. I saw the Child of the World was covered in bite marks and wounds—there’s no way he’d recover in less than ten days or two weeks. But the rabbit actually thought it was no big deal.]

This made the Child of the World furious. Despite the rabbit man’s distressed attempts to stop him, he ended up selling part of the fur and fresh meat he earned from the hunt to the Grand Shaman’s student in exchange for some herbs. Only then did he bandage up his wounds.

Xiu Xiu said: [Doesn’t that rabbit really like the Child of the World? Why is he so stingy about a little thing like this?]

Si Qi’s tone turned a bit cold as he said casually: [Because in that rabbit’s memory, the Child of the World always had exceptional recovery abilities. He could heal quickly without herbs.]

Xiu Xiu paused for a moment before replying: [So that’s how it is…]

In the rabbit man’s memories from his past life, no matter how badly Elvin was injured, he would always recover quickly. He assumed Elvin in this life was the same, which is why he thought buying herbs was unnecessary and didn’t take those “minor injuries” seriously at all.

But in reality, Elvin was just an ordinary beastman. His healing ability was no different from anyone else’s.

The only reason he had recovered so quickly in his past life was because he drank the original owner’s blood each time…

But if Elvin truly cared about the original owner, how could he have stomached doing something like that? If it were Chu Feng, he absolutely wouldn’t have done such a thing.

Si Qi’s expression turned a little cold, which made Chu Feng beside him a bit nervous. He wondered if maybe the flowers he picked this time weren’t pretty enough and Si Qi didn’t like them?

He said cautiously, “Then… next time I’ll pick a different flower to give you…”

Please don’t be mad…

Si Qi came back to his senses, his gaze falling on his lover, and he smiled. Taking the bright red “flower” from Chu Feng, he said, “No, I really like this. And… it’s not a flower.”

Chu Feng was surprised. “It’s not? No wonder…” No wonder Si Qi’s expression had looked a little off earlier—he had given the wrong gift.

Si Qi shook his head. “I wasn’t upset. Even though it’s not a flower, it’s more useful than one—this is a chili pepper.”

Chu Feng tilted his head and repeated the unfamiliar word: “Chili pepper?”

“Mm, it’s an edible seasoning. It stimulates the appetite, aids digestion, helps with sweating and relieving the exterior. When cooked with food, it tastes really good.” Si Qi smiled. “Where did you find it? You can ask the tribe to bring some back and start growing them.”

Chu Feng’s eyes lit up, and for who-knows-how-many times, he said to Si Qi, “You really know so much!”

He was falling more and more in love with Si Qi—every single day he found himself loving him even more than the day before!

Si Qi always answered modestly, “I just happen to know a little.”

Chu Feng shook his head, completely disagreeing with that. He felt proud that the person he loved was so amazing. Holding the flower—or rather, the chili pepper—in his hand, he waved to a beastman passing by and said, “Si Qi found a new plant! Come with me to collect some of them!”

The beastman’s eyes lit up instantly, just like Chu Feng’s. His gaze toward Si Qi was overflowing with admiration. “Si Qi, you’re amazing! You discovered a new plant again!!”

Was there anything Si Qi didn’t know?

It felt like he could even predict whether it would rain or be windy tomorrow—how incredible was that!!

Si Qi couldn’t help but laugh and simply nodded in response.

And actually…

He really could know whether it would rain or be windy tomorrow.

A small climate monitor from the interstellar era was more than enough to solve that problem.

But if he said it out loud, these beastmen would probably think the Beast God had descended to give him prophecies about the future.

When science appears before people who are still ignorant and unaware, it truly can seem indistinguishable from magic—or divine miracles.

Si Qi thought to himself, maybe he could even get himself a title as a “prophet” in this era.

Would that be stealing the Grand Shaman’s job?

While his mind wandered with these ridiculous thoughts, Xiu Xiu came bouncing back to share more joy with Si Qi: [ hehe~ Master, the Child of the World just went into the forest to pick some fruit to eat, but got scolded by a nearby sub-beastman who said he was stealing fruit from his home—and told him to pay with meat!]

[The Child of the World felt completely wronged, thinking that the sub-beastman was falsely accusing him, and he absolutely refused to admit fault. Then the sub-beastman called his family over, and the two sides nearly got into a fight.]

[The rabbit guy had to come and clean up the mess for the Child of the World yet again. hehehe…]

Xiu Xiu always laughed like a broken bellows—it was oddly amusing. Covering his mouth, he told Si Qi, [In the end, the Child of the World had to hand over a large amount of meat to the sub-beastman. After a whole day of running around and getting himself injured, all he ended up with were two fruits and a pile of herbs. Xiu XiuXiu Xiu… He even complained that the bunny was too soft and shouldn’t have agreed to compensate them. The rabbit guy was so annoyed he laughed in disbelief, but still had to hold back his temper and smile while trying to appease the Child of the World. The two ended up having a bit of a falling out.]

Si Qi couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head. [Their daily lives sure are lively.]

Xiu Xiu said seriously, [I just love seeing the Child of the World get unlucky.]

Watching someone you dislike stumble—that’s more entertaining than any comedy film.

Even though under the arrangement of the world’s consciousness the Child of the World always ended up getting some kind of benefit, the process still mattered. Some people get their “rewards” only after a pile of frustration—and in the end, those rewards might not even bring them real joy!

Right now, the Child of the World was exactly that kind of person.

Since arriving at the big tribe, he had been struggling to adapt—this place didn’t feel right, that rule made no sense. Every day felt heavy. Even though he now had better food, a more comfortable home, and higher quality items than before, his face was constantly dark, and he was never happy.

The rabbit guy didn’t understand this at all. From his perspective, the Child of the World’s current situation was hundreds of times better than in their past life as a slave—so why was he still full of complaints and bitterness, always finding fault with the big tribe, always saying it was restrictive and unfair?

But the rabbit guy remembered: in their past life, Elvin had to go hunting every single day and spent his free time digging rocks and building houses. He had no rest except during sleep, and yet he never complained.

So now, when he only had to go hunting every other day, how could he still have so much to say? It was baffling!

Elvin saw the bunny guy’s confused face and exploded in anger: “In the past, I only had to hunt once every three or four days. No matter how much I caught, I still got my share of meat. Even if I didn’t go, it didn’t matter. But now? Every time I skip hunting, people criticize me. If I don’t contribute enough, I get scolded. I can’t even sleep in anymore!”

“I’m a lion! A lazy, sun-loving, nap-taking lion! If I want to eat, I’ll go catch something. I’ve never gone hungry, so why should I make my life so hard now? This life isn’t what I like at all. It’s stressful—I feel like I’m going to get depressed!”

The rabbit guy tried his best to comfort him: “But you’re also earning more than before. Look at all the salt blocks and blankets at home—they’re things you earned through your own labor. Don’t you remember how the deerman from next door mocked us recently, saying our house looked empty and poor? As long as you keep working hard, you’ll definitely live better than him. He’ll never dare look down on you again!”

Elvin gritted his teeth. “I just don’t get it…”

He had never encountered these kinds of problems in his old tribe. The atmosphere in this big tribe was completely different from the warm and harmonious feeling of his previous one. Everyone here seemed cold and difficult to talk to, and Elvin didn’t like it at all.

The rabbit guy just repeated the same thing again: “That’s just how it is. You’ll get used to it.”

Wasn’t that how Elvin made it through his past life too? Didn’t he eventually adapt? Once he became the great emissary of the Beast God in the future, this current atmosphere of flattery and hierarchy would completely flip. It wouldn’t be like in his old tribe, where even the chief was on equal footing with others. Instead, he’d be respected, echoed, and catered to by everyone.

The greater the gap between the high and the low, the more benefits Elvin would gain. The rabbit guy didn’t see anything wrong with that—in fact, he was even somewhat pleased by it.

Seeing that indifferent, “this is just how things are” expression on the rabbit guy’s face once again made Elvin feel more and more stifled.

He felt completely out of place here. He wanted some comfort from his companion, but ironically, it was that very companion who made him feel the most frustrated.

…

Time passed slowly—peaceful and productive for Si Qi, full of resentment and frustration for the Child of the World.

The weather gradually cooled down, and summer slowly gave way to the fruitful season of autumn.

The first batch of crops that had been planted was now nearly ready to harvest. Looking at the endless fields of golden wheat swaying in the distance, Si Qi said to the beastman beside him, “Tell everyone in the tribe to help tomorrow. We should be able to get it all harvested in one day. Once the grain is threshed, keep the straw—it can be used for making fertilizer and also turned into paper.”

The beastman looked expectantly at the beautiful, dreamlike sea of gold before him. In all his decades of life, he had never seen such a lovely shade of gold. He said to Si Qi, “Is that the ‘fertilizer’ you mentioned before—the thing that helps plants grow taller and stronger?”

“And what’s ‘paper’? Is that the stuff you taught us to use after going to the toilet?”

“How do we eat these ‘grains’? I picked one and tried it yesterday, but it was hard and tasteless.”

A series of questions made Si Qi want to laugh. He answered with a calm smile, “You’ll find out soon enough.”

The next morning, the entire village turned out to harvest the wheat and thresh the grain.

The beastmen and sub-beastmen were unbelievably strong, and not a single one of them showed signs of fatigue. They worked in sync, and in no time, the vast rice fields were cleared—fast and fierce, like a swarm of locusts sweeping through.

Si Qi stood to the side, giving them brief instructions on how to separate the grain from the stalks. The beastmen eagerly rolled up their sleeves and rushed to work. The rhythmic sounds of grain heads slapping against wooden boards echoed through the air. Grains dropped into the wooden buckets below, and before long, they had piled up into a small hill.

—Their energy was really off the charts, and their strength was incredible too.

Si Qi stood to the side watching everyone work with great enthusiasm. They didn’t even need a whole day before the beastmen had cleaned up all the harvested rice. The grains and stalks were separated into two neat piles in front of him, and they all looked at him obediently, waiting for the next instructions.

Si Qi found it funny and began assigning tasks in groups. One group went to learn papermaking—chopping up straw, trees, and grass, then steaming it to a pulp in large pots, followed by pulping, filtering, bleaching, rinsing, removing residue, forming sheets, pressing, and drying… The other group followed him to build a windmill.

With this group’s enthusiasm and seemingly endless energy, Si Qi figured even something as complicated as a windmill could be built in just a few days.

He already had the blueprint in his mind. The beastmen chopped trees and used their newly-forged metal axes—tools they were all excited about—to shape the wood into the specific sizes and forms Si Qi described.

Three days later, after the rice had been properly dried, Si Qi led the excited beastmen to use the windmill to hull the grains.

When the clean, plump white rice fell from the husks and appeared before the curious crowd of beastmen, they gasped in amazement, chatting excitedly about how beautiful the grains looked—like little gems.

Someone even grabbed a small handful to taste. Under everyone’s expectant gaze, the beastman hesitated and said, “It tastes weird…”

Si Qi replied, “You have to cook it before eating.”

He bent down, wanting to lift a small bucket of freshly hulled rice, but a nearby beastman quickly stepped in to take over, not letting Si Qi exert himself.

Now, they treated Si Qi like a grand shaman—caring for him attentively and not letting him do any heavy work. Even though Si Qi was stronger and more capable than any of them, they still wouldn’t let him lift a finger.

A curious sub-beastman asked, “Aren’t we going to finish hulling the rest of the rice?”

Si Qi replied, “If you leave it for a while, it’ll taste better. Today is just to let you try it. Save the rest for winter.”

At the mention of winter, the beastmen’s faces lit up with excitement.

“There’ll be so much food to eat in winter.”

“There are dozens of wild boars in the greenhouse,” said one beastman—now they could count up to a hundred.

“There’s a bunch of corn and potatoes too…”

“Si Qi said we can grow vegetables even in winter—as long as we build something called a greenhouse.”

“The persimmons on the trees are ripe too. If we dry them out, they’ll last a long time and taste super sweet.”

“This is the first time I’ve ever known there could be so much to eat in winter!”

The beastmen chatted joyfully, hopping along behind Si Qi like they were ready to break into dance.

Xiu Xiu was curious—how could it be that these beastmen came from the same tribe, yet while the Child of the World lived uncomfortably in the so-called better-developed big tribe, everyone around Si Qi worked even harder but seemed genuinely happy, eager to do everything?

Maybe this was the kind of joy that only comes from building something from nothing, step by step. Or maybe it was Si Qi’s personal charm—people liked him, trusted him, thought everything he did was right, got excited over anything new he introduced, and eagerly learned whatever he taught because they knew it would be good.

Xiu Xiu had personally witnessed this once rundown and primitive tribe slowly grow into something that now resembled a large tribe—even cleaner and more orderly than those “big tribes.”

The wooden huts had been replaced with brick and tile houses, skipping the stone-building stage entirely. Roads were paved with flat, even stones, so even on rainy days there was no mud and no trudging through puddles.

The sub-beastmen who learned pottery from Si Qi were overjoyed. Even during the hot summer, they’d stay by the kilns all day shaping ceramics. Now in autumn, their skills had visibly improved.

Batch after batch of ceramic bowls and pots were made, with several delivered to each household. There were even extras that could be taken to trade at the market with other tribes, and if nothing else, each could be exchanged for a fist-sized chunk of salt.

The sub-beastmen who stayed home to look after children had a lot of free time. Other than occasional fruit-picking outside the tribe, they could now learn to weave useful items—like straw sandals, bamboo baskets, and woven fans.

Some beastmen thought Si Qi looked especially handsome wearing shoes. Secretly, they wanted shoes too, so they brought meat from their hunts and asked the sub-beastmen to make a pair of straw sandals in exchange.

The sub-beastmen were happy to trade a few woven grass strands for a big hunk of meat, so they agreed. After the first beastman showed off his new shoes around the tribe, by the second and third days—and no more than a month later—everyone in the tribe, young and old, was wearing clean and stylish shoes. They looked polished and well-put-together.

Food had become abundant, buildings neat and tidy, and the people visibly more energetic and full of life. Even though the tribe was still small, just over two hundred people, Xiu Xiu looked at their progress and then at the larger tribe’s condition, and couldn’t help but feel a surge of pride.

He felt that the tribe his master belonged to was in no way inferior to those larger, seemingly bustling but chaotic tribes. His master was truly amazing!

Everyone followed Si Qi, happily enjoying a warm, fragrant meal of rice and beef stew. The days passed with one harvest after another.

As early autumn gradually shifted into late autumn, the stockpiles of food for winter kept growing—so much that one warehouse was nearly full.

Xiu Xiu noticed something unusual happening with the Child of the World and quickly rushed to report to Si Qi: “Master, master, the Child of the World is about to cause trouble!”

Si Qi raised an eyebrow and set down a basket of fresh fruit that the villagers had just brought him. “What kind of trouble?”

Xiu Xiu shouted, “War!”