I am a Primitive Man Chapter 791: The Dogs Unlocking New Skills

Chapter 791: The Dogs Unlocking New Skills

When sheltered from wind and rain, childhood always appears colorful and lively.

Because it is an age that is easily satisfied.

A piece of well-braised meat, a small sip of sweet honey water, a tiny snowman, a crystal-clear icicle wind chime… all these could bring them joy, making them smile broadly, whether asleep or eating, their eyes and hearts full of such things…

Now, the carpenter’s workshop in the Green Sparrow Tribe has become the place most beloved by the children of the tribe.

Besides squatting, they watch Lame and the others transform wood into sturdy, spacious donkey carts. Their greatest aspiration is to emulate the Divine Child, who pushes wheels nailed with copper and connected by a bright bronze axle to run around the courtyard. The happiness brought by such a new toy is indescribable.

Of course, being allowed to play on the donkey cart itself would be even more delightful.

The children split into two groups: two or three would ride on the shafts in front, while the others pressed down on the raised rear of the cart.

As the weight at the back increased, those sitting on the shafts would be lifted along with it.

Not only the younger kids, but even older juveniles like Cat Ear often wanted to play a round or two…

Therefore, recently, whenever the broken plowshare hung on the tree branch and was struck with a copper bell, these juveniles would rush out from the schoolhouse and run all the way to the carpenter’s workshop.

When the children gathered, besides the clang-clang of tools, the place would be filled with their joyful laughter.

This was the flavor of childhood.

The tribe’s elder, Shaman, had also recently been coming to the carpenter’s workshop frequently, but unlike most who came to watch the making of donkey carts, Shaman’s purpose was more to watch the children play and laugh.

He never seemed to tire of the sight.

Often, watching the children, a look of reminiscence would appear on Shaman’s face.

Sometimes, talking with Yuan, who came with him, Shaman would often say: “These little rascals are truly happy now. When I was young, what I remember most clearly is hunger and cold. I often cried from hunger, and was barely old enough before I had to leave the cave to forage for grass roots to eat…”

Yuan, who understood Shaman’s meaning, was deeply moved.

Born in such an era, their childhoods were mainly filled with hardship.

Before coming to Green Sparrow Tribe, Yuan never dreamed that juveniles would live so happily.

The contrast made her feel even more fortunate that the children were now.

But even in those reminiscences, not all was gray; a sour-sweet fruit, a slightly charred small grilled fish—all could become unforgettable colors in childhood…

Time is always too short. While passing, it feels ordinary, but looking back one day suddenly makes one realize how quietly countless moments have slipped away.

It feels like just a blink, and a person has grown up. Many things exist only in memory, only to be seen and tasted again in midnight dreams…

After the people of the Green Sparrow Tribe had finished making donkey carts, the weather grew hotter and hotter. Unnoticed, early summer slowly passed, and the scorching midsummer was about to arrive.

Summer mornings, besides nighttime, are the most favored moments—carrying a hint of tranquility, but most importantly, coolness.

At such times, whether lying on the heated bed for a nap or doing other things, it was very comfortable.

But this morning, Han Cheng’s second sleep would not happen.

At the break of dawn, with the moon still faintly visible in the sky, Han Cheng had already gotten up from the heated bed.

Quietly and lightly, Han Cheng approached the small heated bed where Little Pea slept alone by the wall, bending down to look at his sleeping son.

The little one was no longer mischievous as in daytime but very peaceful.

Long eyelashes drooped down, sometimes twitching gently like a dragonfly perched on a reed, fluttering its wings.

Two still chubby little hands were raised on either side of the head, clenched into tiny fists.

Han Cheng looked for a while, then leaned down and gently kissed the cheek.

Perhaps bothered by the stubble on Han Cheng’s lips, Little Pea curled up, reaching a small hand to scratch the spot where he had been kissed, then rolled over, burying his head in the heated bed and continuing to sleep. Seeing this sleeping posture made Han Cheng smile.

He did not disturb Little Pea’s sweet dreams further but turned quietly and lay back on the heated bed.

Bai Xue, sleeping on her side, carried an aura of peace.

Han Cheng watched quietly for a while, his gaze falling on Bai Xue’s slightly rounded belly.

After a moment’s pause, he bent down, tilted his head, and gently pressed his ear against Bai Xue’s belly.

Bai Xue was just over two months pregnant with their second child. Besides the sound of intestinal movement, nothing else could be heard or felt, but Han Cheng listened carefully.

After a while, Han Cheng gently raised his head, about to get off the heated bed, only to find Bai Xue already awake, quietly watching him.

When their eyes met, Bai Xue gave a sweet smile and softly said, “Brother Cheng~”

Comforting and quiet mornings pass quickly. As daylight changed from dark to light, the Green Sparrow Tribe gradually grew lively.

The Eldest Eldest Senior Brother, Shang, Mao, and others moved the things they had prepared two days earlier, piece by piece and basket by basket, into the courtyard. Han Cheng also came out of the room, followed by Bai Xue, who had also gotten up.

“Divine Child.”

“Divine Child.”

Seeing Han Cheng come out, Eldest Senior Brother and others greeted him.

“Is everything packed?”

Han Cheng smiled, nodded to everyone, then asked aloud.

“All packed and ready to go.”

Mao responded.

As the one who often went out with the trade caravan, Mao had the most say in this.

He already knew very well what needed to be brought.

Seeing this, Han Cheng nodded again and smiled: “Then let’s eat. After eating, while it’s still cool, we’ll set off early.”

Everyone obeyed the order and went to eat.

Seeing Bai Xue, who also wanted to go straight to eat, Han Cheng reached out, pulled her gently, and smiled softly, “Go brush your teeth first, then we’ll eat.”

It was hard to tell what Bai Xue—the childhood bride whom Han Cheng had turned into an experienced “driver”—was thinking, but a faint blush appeared on her face, which was even paler than most in the tribe.

Then she showed Han Cheng two rows of bright white teeth, clicking them together audibly, which sent a chill down his spine.

This was definitely someone not to mess with!

The tribe’s two-wheeled donkey carts had already been built. The remaining improvements could only rely on Lame, Heiwa, and the others. Whether Han Cheng was there or not didn’t matter anymore; he no longer needed to act as a technical advisor.

With the donkey carts finished, it was time to move on to the bronze “highway” project.

Han Cheng had started arranging this a few days ago. Initially, he planned to survey the route the day before yesterday, but the rain delayed the plan to today.

This trip was to survey the route—not for hunting or battle—so not many people were needed. Half of the trade caravan, plus about a dozen Green Sparrow warriors who regularly trained, was enough.

Since the trade caravan often traveled outdoors, having them there ensured safety.

Han Cheng deliberately didn’t bring the entire trade caravan this time, wanting to use the opportunity to train some others who might forget how to survive in the wild if they stayed farming in the tribe for too long.

The meals had long been prepared—made by people assigned yesterday, who got up before dawn to cook.

At this time, the food was just right—not too cold, not too hot…

After eating, the prepared goods were either loaded onto donkeys and deer to carry or carried by hand or shoulder, and were quickly distributed.

Because this was not a military expedition, there was no complicated ceremony. After everyone had packed, Han Cheng led the group out.

“Come back early! Be careful on the road…”

Though Shaman understood this was only a route survey and unlikely to be dangerous, he still repeatedly urged caution.

He repeated these warnings countless times in the past few days, eventually even reluctant to let Han Cheng leave.

It took much reassurance from Han Cheng to calm Shaman down.

Han Cheng had to make this trip because he knew the route best in the tribe. Although he never participated in road planning or construction in the future, he still understood the principles of choosing and building roads.

“Once I’m back, we’ll start building the road. When it’s done, I’ll drive the donkey cart and take you to see the pond at Copper Mountain…”

Han Cheng rubbed Bai Xue’s head and said this.

He then picked up Little Pea from the ground. Ignoring the child’s protests, he rubbed the prickly stubble on his cheek twice and shouted, “Let’s go!” with a laugh.

He then happily led the way…

Those who saw them off stood outside the courtyard walls, unwilling to leave, only dispersing under Shaman’s orders after the group and the Green Sparrow flag disappeared from view.

People busied themselves with their tasks but couldn’t help glancing in the direction Han Cheng had gone.

The Divine Child was different from others. When others left the tribe, people might feel some worry; but whenever the Divine Child left, everyone felt an emptiness in their hearts, a lack of security, a sense of having no support…

Shaman, who ordered people to work, went even further—he climbed atop the tribe’s wall and stood there staring toward Han Cheng’s departing group…

After walking for a while, Han Cheng slowed down and began observing the surroundings.

Over several years, the Green Sparrow tribe had made a path from the main tribe to the Copper Mountain residential area.

However, this path was only suitable for people and deer, and many sections were rough and rugged.

Now, they had to prepare a road passable for donkey carts. Naturally, they could no longer follow the old, casually trodden path.

If possible, building a straight road between two points is best.

Han Cheng clearly remembered from elementary school that the straight line between two points is the shortest.

Straight roads not only make travel comfortable but also save time and labor.

But now he could only imagine this ideal road because between the Green Sparrow prominent tribe and the Copper Mountain residential area, the terrain was not flat.

Some detours were unavoidable.

For example, they needed to avoid streams as much as possible.

Places prone to flash floods, landslides, or collapses also had to be bypassed.

After considering these factors, they would try to make the road as straight as possible.

It sounds easy, but in practice, it’s challenging.

Because there were no aerial photos or high-resolution satellite images at the time.

The only way to understand the terrain was by foot and eye.

Moreover, with few people around, many places were densely forested. And since it was summer—the time when trees had the densest foliage—layers of leaves blocked vision and made surveying and walking difficult.

In dense thorny areas, they had to clear the way with bronze axes, sickles, and saws they carried.

Due to the thick foliage, they had to walk through some areas personally to understand their terrain.

During this process, they encountered many kinds of animals—even a tiger once.

Fortunately, Han Cheng was mentally prepared and had brought out most of the adult dogs from the tribe—about sixty or seventy!

These dogs were very different from those in the future that barked fiercely, locked in cages, but were cowardly face-to-face. These dogs would truly rush to fight.

After all, their ancestor Fu Jiang was a real wolf. Besides some differences from wild wolves, they still carried a strong wild aura.

Plus, with many two-legged beasts (people) around, their courage grew. Even when encountering the tiger, they barked wildly.

Some dogs even attempted to sneak behind the tiger, attempting to imitate Er Ge’s “digging out the jar” trick in a sneaky manner.

Facing so many fierce dogs and over twenty armed Green Sparrow adults wielding bronze halberds, rattan shields, and bows, even the tiger was scared off, unwilling to stay.

This was just terrifying for the tiger. Staying could cost its life or even its “manhood,” leaving it incomplete forever…

Han Cheng was surprised but relieved when he saw the dogs’ sneaky “digging out the jar” skill, wondering when these beasts had learned such a sneaky skill without a teacher under his serious leadership.

His doubt was only resolved when he rested and saw Fu Jiang and Deer Lord—two longtime rivals—sparring again. Deer Lord repeatedly attacked Fu Jiang’s backside with his antlers like dead branches.

“Holy crap!”

After knowing the truth, Han Cheng twitched his face for a while before finally expressing his feelings.

People say practicing sparring with opponents improves oneself, and Han Cheng always believed that. He had promoted this idea in the tribe’s daily training, sometimes having people split into groups to compete and thus improve the tribe’s combat ability.

Unexpectedly, the best learners weren’t the people, but Fu Jiang and his descendants.

In their sparring, they had independently learned this “digging out the jar” god-level skill!

This showed how much resentment Fu Jiang harbored due to Deer Lord’s constant antler attacks…

Sweating heavily and unwilling to remove his rattan armor, Han Cheng held a simple wooden writing board made by Lame before the trip in one hand, and a charcoal pencil in the other, writing and drawing on the paper.

The maps had mountains marked with triangle symbols, and some mountains circled with irregular lines as contour lines, which helped shape the mountains.

Han Cheng was drawing topographic maps based on his observations.

Without precise instruments, he had to rely on his eyes to roughly estimate and draw contour lines.

Fortunately, the tribe only needed a relatively wide dirt road, not a modern highway, so this rough mapping method worked.

After some time, he finally recorded the main terrain features he observed and let out a long sigh of relief.

Putting the papers into a pouch made from a whole animal hide, he tied the pouch tightly with rope, then shook his sore wrist and stood up, stretching widely.

As he stretched, the rattan armor he was used to wearing felt a bit uncomfortable in places.

But even so, Han Cheng wouldn’t easily remove it.

This was not the tribe’s territory—here they traveled through wilderness and mountains. Having personally seen the variety of wild beasts encountered by not sticking to the old path, Han Cheng decided not to take off the rattan armor until they reached the Copper Mountain residential area.

Moreover, encountering thorns was normal during such travel.

Without this hard outer rattan armor, not only would his hemp clothes tear to shreds, but he would surely be covered in wounds.

To avoid injuries, one must wrap oneself in animal skins.

But wearing thick animal skins while climbing around in the wild at this time of year was a miserable experience Han Cheng would rather avoid.

Compared to that, the ventilated rattan armor was more comfortable.

Feeling the rattan armor on his body and looking at the somewhat disheveled group around him, Han Cheng couldn’t help but sniff.

With shortages of all sorts, building even a simple rural dirt road was this difficult.

However, it’s not like there aren’t any advantages—at least in this era, building roads didn’t require worrying about compensation fees for demolishing houses, and there was no fear of “nail households” demanding exorbitant sums…

As Han Cheng and his group slowly approached the Copper Mountain residential area to explore, the Wind Tribe to the northwest of Copper Mountain was also taking action.

The Old Primitive Man, along with the five people who had previously gone with him to investigate the evil Flying Snake Tribe, set out again from their tribe, heading toward the evil Flying Snake Tribe’s territory.

But unlike before—when they were full of anxiety and a tragic determination to be caught and eaten—this time the Old Primitive Man and the five companions were no longer uneasy. On the contrary, they were filled with intense anticipation.

Because the kind and powerful Green Sparrow Tribe had already eliminated the evil Flying Snake Tribe.

Just thinking about that tribe living in strange caves, wealthy and kind-hearted, made the Old Primitive Man and the others salivate.

They all coincidentally thought about the delicious food that was so good it almost made people forget which tribe they belonged to…

Whenever these thoughts came to mind, the Old Primitive Man and his companions felt as if they could flap their wings and fly through the sky like the birds passing overhead, arriving at that tribe immediately.

So, without much instruction from the Old Primitive Man, the five people all mustered their energy and headed toward the Copper Mountain residential area—more eagerly even than when they had previously hurried from Copper Mountain back to their own tribe.

The Old Primitive Man and his group aimed to bring back more delicious salt and precious pottery this time.

That snow-white, delicious stuff called salt had become extremely popular in their tribe ever since they brought some back.

Now, if the Wind Tribe people didn’t eat food with salt, they would feel uncomfortable all over.

Under these circumstances, the salt gifted by the Third Senior Brother was naturally consumed very quickly.

As for pottery, their tribe currently had only one pot and three bowls.

Even though some had broken over the last couple of years, this small amount was clearly far from enoug