I am a Primitive Man-Chapter 796: A Difficult Task That Can Be Passed Down as a Family Heirloom for Generations

I am a Primitive Man-Chapter 796: A Difficult Task That Can Be Passed Down as a Family Heirloom for Generations

Chapter 796: A Difficult Task That Can Be Passed Down as a Family Heirloom for Generations
This exchange ratio was a bit too complicated for the old primitive man.
Han Cheng explained it to Mao, and after confirming that Mao understood his meaning, he asked Mao to pass it along to the old primitive man.
Mao pointed to the items written on the wooden board and explained for a while, but seeing the old primitive man still didn’t understand, he scratched his head and then led them toward the section of the Bronze Highway that had already been partially built.
He had Shi measure out a 100-meter length with a ruler, circled it with lime powder, then pointed at that section of road and the large spoonful of salt scooped from the salt jar. Mao then rambled on for a while until they finally understood that after building such a length of road, they could get that amount of salt.
After confirming that some of the old primitive men understood the exchange, Mao took out five bowls and pointed at these five standard-sized pottery bowls, continuing to explain in his own way to the old primitive man.
With their understanding of salt, the old primitive man quickly realized that building that stretch of road would earn them five valuable pottery bowls.
Although it seemed that the old primitive man understood, Han Cheng still had Mao demonstrate it several more times to ensure they truly grasped it.
He worried the old primitive man might misunderstand and think that building 100 meters of road at once would earn all these items at the same time.
If that happened, it might confuse things later.
Initially, Han Cheng planned to calculate wages based on days worked, but after some thought, he switched to this “more work, more reward” method.
This would help prevent some from slacking off.
Although these people are straightforward, they probably wouldn’t slack off, but it’s still better to have precautions.
The old primitive man looked at the salt jar, pottery bowls, and those golden-yellow foods placed by the roadside, then at the lime-circled section of road that didn’t look very long, their eyes gleaming with excitement.
They all understood the value and taste of salt and pottery. The old primitive man, along with five others from the Wind Tribe, had previously enjoyed the golden food, which left a strong impression, especially when paired with dishes from the Green Sparrow Tribe — absolutely delicious.
These were all good things!
Now, just by building this section of road, they might be able to get these items.
It was no wonder their eyes shone brightly.
Encouraged by these rewards, the old primitive man was now all eager to start building the road.
The old primitive extended his left hand, looked at his fingers for a moment, then reached out with his right hand and brought both hands together, revealing a satisfied smile.
He believed that he and his tribe could build as many sections of road in a day as the fingers on both hands.
After Mao, who was standing beside, translated this ambitious plan, Han Cheng smiled.
When creating this “wage list,” Han Cheng had based it on the speed at which his own tribe built roads.
Even with skilled use of all the road-building tools and familiarity with the work, twenty adults from his tribe could only build about a hundred meters of dirt road in one day.
Now, the Wind Tribe and the Neighboring Wind Tribe had 22 and 25 adults, respectively.
With such numbers, if one tribe aimed to build a thousand meters a day, they would have to believe that their people were human bulldozers or steamrollers!
Though he thought this in his heart, Han Cheng did not tell the old primitive man about it — having such ambition was good after all…
Sometimes, if you don’t try hard, you never know what despair is.
At dusk, as Han Cheng gazed at the old primitive man staring at two stretches of road that were only just over halfway done, looking utterly hopeless, a line of cynical “toxic chicken soup” suddenly popped into his mind.
Thinking about the old primitive man’s earlier high hopes and their current utterly hopeless expressions, Han Cheng felt this cynical phrase made quite a bit of sense…
When the old primitive man first arrived, their accommodation wasn’t ready, so the adults rested that night in the courtyard of Copper Mountain Residential Area. At the same time, the minors slept in the houses of the Green Sparrow Tribe.
Since the Green Sparrow Tribe’s houses had rough burlap and bamboo screens for windows and doors, and they burned mugwort rope to fumigate, there were basically no mosquitoes.
Lying on a flat, spacious earthen kang (heated bed) with a cool bamboo mat beneath, and a soft hide on their belly to keep warm, smelling the pleasant scent of burning mugwort, while thinking of delicious food and unforgettable canned food — plus the kind and gentle smile of the noble deity — these young members from the Wind Tribe and Neighboring Wind Tribe felt today’s experience was like a wonderful dream.
They immediately grew fond of this tribe during their first visit.
As night deepened, amid the occasional hand slaps on mosquitoes outside, the minors gradually fell asleep.
For the first summer without mosquito bites, they slept peacefully; some little ones even smiled in their sleep, seemingly dreaming of something pleasant…
The old primitive man clearly had a quality of becoming stronger from setbacks.
Yesterday, they felt discouraged, but early the next morning, after quickly eating two bowls of millet porridge with a couple of chopsticks of cold wild vegetables, and thinking about the salt they could earn by building roads, they once again regained their vigor.
But just then, Han Cheng and Mao came over and stopped the old primitive man.
Mao pointed to the old primitive man’s long hair, then to the short hair of himself and the others, and began to communicate.
After a while, this scene showed up in the Green Sparrow Tribe’s courtyard—
Two Wind Tribe men sat stiffly on wooden stools, with shaved patches around their necks.
Two Green Sparrow Tribe members, one holding a wooden comb and the other a bronze pair of scissors, kept snipping away.
As hair fell in clumps, placing a large glass mirror in front would make it resemble a modern-day barbershop even more.
Beside them, the old primitive man, whose appearance had drastically changed, and another person who had just gotten a haircut, kept running their hands over their heads with curious expressions.
Having short hair felt comfortable — not only was it pleasant to touch, but their heads felt lighter, and most importantly, cooler!
They could feel the cool breeze blowing on their scalps!
Seeing the old primitive man fondly touching his head and praising the feeling so much, the others who were initially reluctant to get haircuts also became tempted.
They wanted to try out the comfort of short hair quickly.
Even the women of the primitive tribes wanted to cut their hair short like the men.
However, Han Cheng did not allow this.
The thought of a woman with a buzz cut and a large chest made Han Cheng feel awkward just thinking about it.
The women’s hair was cut to a moderate length—most of it stayed above the waist.
Then, led by some women from the Copper Mountain residential area, they went downstream to wash their hair.
The fragrant, smooth soap smelled nice, and it probably tasted good too.
The women from the Wind Tribe and the Neighboring Wind Tribe, seeing soap for the first time, swallowed hard at the scent.
One woman even couldn’t resist and secretly put some in her mouth to chew slowly. When she opened her mouth, bubbles foamed out, which made the people around her laugh kindly.
Following the guidance of the Green Sparrow Tribe’s women, these primitive women learned how to use soap properly.
They wetted their hair with stream water, applied the smooth, fragrant soap, and rubbed it in with their hands until their hair and hands were covered in white foam.
For those washing their hair with soap for the first time, seeing the white foam on their hands and then looking up at the fluffy white clouds floating in the blue sky, they were both amazed and filled with curiosity.
With this new and innovative soap from the kind tribe, they felt as if they were holding the clouds from the sky in their hands!
After washing, they began combing their hair.
Women naturally feel drawn to combs, and after a few demonstrations by the Green Sparrow women, the two tribes quickly learned how to use the comb to tidy their hair.
Once their hair dried, they started braiding by the stream.
Many women from the Wind Tribe had already learned to braid after a few visits from a female primitive from the Green Sparrow Tribe’s Copper Mountain residential area.
The women from the Neighboring Wind Tribe couldn’t braid yet and stood there enviously.
So the Green Sparrow women came over to braid their hair for them, and after finishing, tied colorful hair ribbons made from dyed red or yellow hemp strips into pretty bows at the ends.
From afar, it looked like beautiful butterflies resting on their hair—very pretty.
The women looked at their reflections in the water, with braided hair and beautiful bows, and seemed a bit dazed.
Previously, busy with life, they rarely paid attention to their appearance.
Now, with the gentle guidance of the Green Sparrow Tribe, after washing and grooming, they suddenly realized how beautiful they truly were.
Returning from the stream, these refreshed women walked back chatting and laughing nonstop.
Although their languages were different — some spoke Mandarin, others their own awkward tribal languages — their communication was undeniably joyful.
Sometimes, bonding among women is this simple; a pretty hair ribbon or a new hairstyle can significantly strengthen friendship and make them happily chat for a long time.
This is true for women, both ancient and modern.
However, compared to modern times, the simple, communal life of primitives made their happiness more genuine and straightforward.
The minors from both tribes went through the same process.
After washing with soap and combing by the stream, they looked completely different.
The boys had short hair like grown men.
The girls had their hair cut to ear length and tied into two “ram horn” braids.
The ends of these braids were also tied with colorful hemp ribbons into bows.
As they ran, the curved braids swayed and the bows danced up and down, truly like two beautiful butterflies fluttering in their hair…
Watching these laughing, running minors, the old primitive man was touched.
They suddenly realized how beautiful the minors in their tribes were.
Seeing them so happy now, and remembering how they had cried from hunger earlier, even the old primitive man felt comforted by this sight, more than enjoying delicious food himself.
Han Cheng also felt very pleased watching this.
Not only because these Wind Tribe and Neighboring Wind Tribe people now looked no different from his own tribe, but more importantly, they were clean and no longer looked unpleasant as before.
“Take all this and burn it.”
Han Cheng indicated the pile of cut hair and said.
No one in this world collected hair, so Han Cheng felt no regret about burning the cut hair.
Furthermore, even if there were collectors, he would still burn it because some indescribable, unpleasant little creatures lived among the cut hair, making people feel uncomfortable all over…
In the morning, after bathing and haircuts, the people from the two tribes resumed road construction in the afternoon, with Han Cheng, Shitou, and others acting as technical guides.
Because this road was significant to the Green Sparrow Tribe, they took the construction very seriously.
Some people cleared out the grass roots and tree roots ahead, while others leveled the soil behind.
But the most spectacular part was the group of people pounding the earth while shouting work chants.
“One, two, three! Hey-yo~!”
“Keep going! Hey-yo~!”
“Four, five, six! Hey-yo~!”
“Come eat meat! Hey-yo~!”
As the loud chants echoed, stone blocks tied with thick hemp ropes flew through the air with each raised and lowered arm, hitting the ground with a muffled thud that caused the earth to tremble slightly.
The heavy stone blocks heavily compressed the recently shoveled loose soil.
Han Cheng created the work chants.
For work that requires many people to exert force at once, shouting in unison not only boosts morale but also synchronizes their efforts to push together—an excellent technique.
However, since neither tribe had learned Mandarin yet, the chant callers came from the Green Sparrow Tribe, and the workers from both tribes only responded with “Hey-yo.”
Watching the long-legged Green Sparrow tribesman shouting with a red face and thick neck, and the Wind Tribe men shouting “Hey-yo” and throwing stones into the air, Han Cheng suddenly recalled the modern-day Phoenix Legend dominating square dancing with songs…
After tamping the earth, the work wasn’t finished. Behind them, someone guided a Green Sparrow donkey pulling a stone roller back and forth to compact the road.
While the two tribes worked on the road here under Han Cheng’s orders, the Green Sparrow trading team traveled about fifteen miles along the newly cleared path and chose a relatively flat area near the road to clear for building.
On this cleared land, they used felled wood and branches to build houses modeled after the half-subterranean dwellings of the Half-farming Tribe.
This involved constructing temporary work shelters.
The road built so far wasn’t very long and was close to the Copper Mountain residential area, so the workers could return to the Copper Mountain courtyard to rest at night and continue working in the morning.
But once the road stretched farther, this back-and-forth would become impractical.
Therefore, Han Cheng arranged for a work shelter to be built here ahead of time for future needs.
After all, living in this remote wilderness at night was truly unsafe.
The Half-farming Tribe’s semi-subterranean round houses were easy to build and ideal for temporary shelters.
Around the four finished round houses, they also fenced a small area with branches and tree stumps.
About a meter high.
Although a bit low, it still provided some defense.
While this was happening, people from both the Wind Tribe and the Neighboring Wind Tribe were watching and taking part.
Han Cheng deliberately arranged this.
They couldn’t stay here for very long or build all the necessary shelters along the way themselves.
After they left, the two tribes would need to build subsequent shelters on their own.
Han Cheng wasn’t worried about the tribes learning this building method, because it wasn’t a core tribal skill.
The tribe’s core was farming.
Without sufficient food to sustain them, learning shelter building was less important.
Additionally, in Han Cheng’s plan, these tribespeople would ultimately become his own people.
So letting them learn such skills early didn’t matter—they would be one tribe sooner or later.
Although these round, half-subterranean houses weren’t as grand or tall as the stone and timber houses in the Copper Mountain residential area, it was astonishing to the two external tribes — who had always lived in caves and never built houses — that with their hands and simple common materials, they managed to create such “caves” on flat land suitable for living.
After building the structures, these two people looked at the round houses and fences, then at their own hands, hardly believing they had created all this with the help of the kind tribe.
Since the primitive man could receive goods from the Green Sparrow Tribe for every 100 meters of road built, they naturally put their minors to work as well.
The minors couldn’t tamp soil, of course, but they could assist with tasks such as clearing grass and roots.
However, Han Cheng didn’t make these minors work full days—only half days.
For the other half, they weren’t idle; instead, they learned Mandarin and writing from Shitou, who easily marked the road with lime powder.
Later, these minors would teach the adults in their tribe to speak Mandarin, though Han Cheng didn’t require them to learn the complex Chinese characters.
The old primitive man saw their minors living so happily under this lifestyle and, though a bit regretful about lost labor, he was very supportive.
However, they were quite troubled by the minors teaching them the tribe’s somewhat awkward language upon their return.
After the kind Divine Child said that the Green Sparrow Tribe would provide half of the daily food allowance for these minors. At the same time, they learned from Shitou, the old primitive man—who initially had little objection—became even more agreeable.
Seeing these people from both tribes sporting the same hairstyles as their own, working hard for their tribes, and gradually learning to speak their language, Han Cheng’s mood became very pleasant.
When alone, where no one could see him, Han Cheng’s face would occasionally break into a sly grin, looking just like a fox that had stolen some chickens.
Watching those people speaking somewhat stiff Mandarin, Han Cheng suddenly thought how wonderful it would be if all tribes could speak Mandarin.
This way, future descendants wouldn’t have to endure as much from the languages of other external tribes.
It truly was a great idea. Han Cheng propped his chin in thought, imagining a blond, blue-eyed, snow-white person meeting a pitch-black person who looked like freshly burnt charcoal. They warmly shook hands, greeted each other in perfect Mandarin, then chatted enthusiastically, occasionally shouting phrases like “your uncle” (a mild curse), which made him feel very amused.
However, for this to truly happen, the difficulty level would need to be at least ten times higher than turning rapeseed into actual cabbages.
This wasn’t just a lifelong challenge for him, but even when counting his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, it still seemed unlikely.
It was a never-ending task that could be passed down as a family heirloom!
Han Cheng, along with Shang and Mao, stayed here for seven more days.
After confirming that many issues had been resolved and that the remaining work could proceed smoothly, he gave some final instructions to Third Senior Brother. He prepared to leave, returning to the main Green Sparrow Tribe.
They had already been away for quite some time.
However, Shitou, the high-level technician, needed to stay behind.
He was mainly responsible for measuring the road and marking its outline so the two tribes could build accordingly.
He also kept track of their work and issued their “wages” when needed.
He was additionally responsible for quality control on the roads built by the two tribes.
Besides these three duties, he had an important task to continue teaching the minors Mandarin and Chinese characters.
Shitou was very familiar and skilled at teaching these because, back at the main tribe, he often did this.
Most of the people who later joined the Green Sparrow Tribe had learned Mandarin from him.
The residents of Copper Mountain, including Third Senior Brother, felt hesitant to see Han Cheng and his group depart.
Because during the Divine Child’s stay, they felt very secure and reassured—a steadfast presence that no Green Sparrow flag could replace.
Not only them, but also the old primitive man working as a laborer for the Green Sparrow Tribe’s road project showed reluctance and anxiety upon hearing that Han Cheng and his group would leave Copper Mountain and move to another tribal residence.
Over these days, they had grown accustomed to the presence of this kind Divine Child.
With the Divine Child here, everything was arranged in an orderly manner…
The minors of the two tribes felt the most reluctant.
After all, besides Shitou, Han Cheng was the person they interacted with most from the Green Sparrow.
And when he was free, he would take them to play some games or open a can of food to share.
He treated them very kindly.
With Han Cheng, these minors experienced something they had never experienced before.
So it was no surprise they were sad when they heard Han Cheng was leaving.
Some of the older minors even wiped away tears.
Having migrated with the tribe before, they thought Han Cheng would never return and that they would never see their respected Divine Child again.
Hearing these kids’ thoughts made Han Cheng’s nose sting; he wiped away their tears with a smile and comforted them.
I’ll come back when the time is right. We’ll meet again. Once this road is finished, traveling from here to our other home will be almost the same. When you want to see me, just walk straight down this road.
Mao translated Han Cheng’s words for them, and upon understanding his meaning, the minors felt much relieved.
After a short stay here, Han Cheng led the trade team away from Copper Mountain, following the path they had built for more than three miles, heading toward the main Green Sparrow Tribe.
The minors and the old primitive man from the two tribes accompanied Third Senior Brother and others from Copper Mountain to the end of the road.
Despite Han Cheng’s repeated pleas to stay, they reluctantly watched him and the group gradually disappear into the distance.
Only after the Green Sparrow flag, fluttering gently in the breeze, finally faded from sight did everyone slowly disperse and return to their own tasks.
The minors who had lived in Copper Mountain for a while, enjoying a carefree life, became much quieter that morning.
Their faces were serious as they held tools and diligently worked on the road.
They wanted to finish the road quickly so they could visit the revered Divine Child at the other location.
The Divine Child never lied to them. Everything he promised has come true, and this time won’t be different!
Not only them — the old primitive man worked on the road with more motivation and seriousness than before.
They also didn’t want the Divine Child to leave and wanted to see the other tribal residence he would go to.
During these days, they had learned a bit about that other place.
They knew it had higher walls, friendlier people, and more delicious food…
And if they could finish this road, they could see it…
Time flew by.
When Han Cheng first planned the bronze highway, it was early summer.
Now, with everything on track, midsummer had quietly passed, and autumn’s breath was arriving.
While walking along the road, a few yellow leaves drifted down like butterflies.
“Quack quack quack…”
“Flap flap…”
A flock of wild ducks with a streak of green on their heads was startled by Han Cheng’s group, quacking and flapping wildly as they flew away, leaving behind a scene of panic.
Han Cheng paused and watched thoughtfully as the ducks settled into the water after flying away.
He wasn’t thinking about catching and roasting these green-headed ducks.
Instead, other thoughts related to this place came to mind.

Chapter 796: A Difficult Task That Can Be Passed Down as a Family Heirloom for Generations