The cold wind is howling and the snow is falling.
More than a dozen tourists were gathering around the fire pit to warm themselves up, shivering and worrying about being hungry in the future.
Although after it snowed, at Jiang Xuan's suggestion, they used water to turn ice and blocked the cracks in the wall with ice, the cold was still everywhere.
"Open the door, I'm back!"
At this moment, a rough voice came from outside.
A tourist near the door reluctantly left the fire pit, then moved the wood supporting the door and opened the heavy door.
"Huhu..."
After the door was opened, a gust of cold wind rushed into the house, blowing away the little warmth that had finally gathered in the house.
The tourists shuddered one after another, and they were actually complaining a little in their hearts.
However, when Nepeta held a heavy one-horned bird in his hand, his eyes widened.
"Come and see, what is this?"
Nepeta deliberately held the unicorn bird in his hands so that they could see it more clearly.
"One-horned bird!"
"food!"
"Meat!"
Those tourists were already hungry, so when they saw the plump unicorn bird, their eyes were glowing green, they swallowed crazily, and they wanted to pounce on it and take a bite immediately.
Eating meat is what the tribesmen crave most, because they usually eat mostly wild vegetables, wild fruits, insects and other foods.
The jungle is dangerous and every prey is precious. Being able to eat meat every day is the dream of most tribesmen.
Nepeta continued: "This one-horned bird, the leader of the Teng tribe took me to hunt just now. He didn't lie to us. He really has a way for us to get food in winter!"
Nepeta looked around and said, "In other words, all of us don't have to worry about starving to death!"
"good!"
"Very good!"
"We have food!"
When the tourists heard these words, they suddenly became excited. They didn't even care about the cold, and they cheered while pulling their necks.
For these tourists, the biggest fear is that there is no hope of survival and they worry about starving to death.
At this moment, the unicorn bird held in Jie Jie's hands was no longer just a prey, but their hope for survival.
This kind of excitement is difficult for people who have never experienced despair to understand.
After Jie Jie finished speaking, he added: "I will go and tell the other tribesmen this good news."
Nepeta turned around and left the room, and the door was closed again.
But those tourists were no longer fearful or decadent, and their mental state had undergone great changes.
They gathered around the fire pit and looked at the dancing flames. Their eyes became full of hope, and they even began to look forward to the future!
This is a good sign.
Later, Nepeta walked from room to room, first showing the one-horned bird, and then saying similar words.
Every time he arrived at a room, cheers would definitely come from that room, covering up the sound of the wind and snow outside.
Jiang Xuan stood under a tree not far away. With his excellent hearing, he naturally heard clearly all the conversations between Jingjie and the tourists.
Jiang Xuan chuckled and said, "I didn't expect that this guy is really a talent."
Just one prey and inspiring words can make more than a hundred tourists cheer. This is not something ordinary people can do. It requires a certain amount of talent.
After Nepeta walked around, the one-horned bird's feathers were covered with a layer of snow, its head drooped, and it looked lifeless.
Nepeta came under the big tree and stood in front of Jiang Xuan, but hesitated to speak.
"Chief, this one-horned bird..."
Jiang Xuan smiled and said: "Let's stew it in a pottery cauldron. Give everyone a bowl of broth."
Although words can inspire people, they are short-lived. Only real benefits can inspire those tourists to fight.
"Thank you, chief." Jing Jie gratefully thanked Jiang Xuan.
"But..." Nepeta hesitated for a moment and said, "I'm afraid we won't be able to survive this winter just by catching birds. After all, the snow is so heavy that we can't go too far, and all the nearby birds and beasts will always be captured."
"Don't worry, I've thought of this problem a long time ago. I have other ways to get you more food."
"Enough food for everyone to eat for a winter." Jiang Xuan was full of confidence.
"Really? That's great."
Nepeta breathed a sigh of relief. The leader of the Teng tribe seemed young and very reliable in his work.
Jiang Xuan thought for a while and said: "Tomorrow, bring the ten strongest tourists to me, and I will take you to find food."
"good."
"I'm going back first. You go stew this unicorn bird and let everyone drink a bowl of hot broth."
Jiang Xuan turned around and left. Jingjie stood there, looking at Jiang Xuan's back, and began to have a good impression of Jiang Xuan and the Teng tribe.
That night, the unicorn bird was stewed into broth with other food in several pottery pots, and each visitor was given a bowl.
When they drank the steaming hot broth, many people burst into tears with excitement, not because it tasted so good, but because not only did they not starve to death, but they also had meat.
That night, many people had sweet dreams, instead of having nightmares every day like before.
Early the next morning, Jiejie selected the ten strongest tourists and found Jiang Xuan with simple hunting tools.
Jiang Xuan got up early, and not only that, all the people in the Teng tribe were ready.
In accordance with Jiang Xuan's request, they each brought a bundle of firewood, a rattan basket, ropes, their own weapons, and a piece of dry horseshoe-shaped wood Ganoderma lucidum that they lit as fire.
This kind of wood lingzhi will smolder for a long time after being ignited, making it very suitable for use as fire.
"I'm going to stay outside for a long time today, so put on these animal skin coats and animal skin boots first, and then return them to me when you come back."
Jiang Xuan threw eleven sets of old animal skin clothes and animal skin boots to Jingjie and others.
In fact, the Vine Tribe has accumulated a lot of animal skins, and there are relatively few real members of the Vine Tribe, so they simply cannot use so many.
But Jiang Xuan cannot directly give these animal skins to tourists, because these tourists have not yet joined the Vine Tribe, and they have not created any value for the tribe for the time being, but have been consuming food.
Therefore, only if these tourists truly join the Vine Tribe or create equal value, Jiang Xuan will consider giving the animal skin clothing directly to them.
Jingjie and the ten tourists looked at Jiang Xuan gratefully, and then quickly put on those animal skin clothes and animal skin boots.
"Are you all ready? Let's go to the river."
Jiang Xuan held the bone spear and fire, and took the lead in walking to the river along the previously opened path, followed closely by the Vine Tribe tribesmen and the tourists.
The snow on the ground was deep and walking was difficult, but everyone was very excited because they had no experience of hunting in winter, and the unknown was exciting.
Next to the old witch's house, a giant eagle squatted in a huge nest. It shook the snow off its body, then tilted its head and looked at Jiang Xuan and others. Obviously, it didn't know what these people were doing out in such heavy snow.
The old witch who was warming himself around the firepit was also very curious, but he didn't go out because it was too cold outside and he couldn't bear it at his age.
Not long after, Jiang Xuan and others braved the heavy snow and came to the beach by the river.
The severe cold and heavy snow have frozen the surface of the river, which is more than 20 meters wide, and it is so solid that at first glance it looks like flat ground, and you can't tell where the river is.
Jiang Xuan chose a location that was relatively sheltered from the wind and said to the others: "Clean the snow here and light a bonfire. The brighter the better."
"good."
Although everyone didn't understand why they wanted to light the fire, they had become accustomed to obeying Jiang Xuan's orders.
Soon, the snow on the ground was cleared, the dry firewood was piled together, and then the bonfire was lit with the kindling brought by the horseshoe-shaped Ganoderma lucidum.
"Huhuhu..."
With the blessing of the wind, this large bonfire burned more and more vigorously. Even the snow next to it was melted and the ground was baked dry.
Later, Jiang Xuan asked them to dig out a lot of stones from the snow and throw them into the bonfire until they were burned hot.
After doing all this, Jiang Xuan used the bone spear to poke into the river bend little by little, and finally found a better position, removing the surface snow and exposing the hard ice below.
"This is it."
"Tear out the red-hot stone and carry it here."
Jiang Xuan shouted, and Chi Shao and others immediately started to pull out the red-hot stones with wooden sticks, and then put them into a rattan basket. When the rattan basket touched the hot stones, the parts that had been in contact for a long time were burned black.
They were afraid that the rattan basket would be burned through, so they walked very quickly to the location designated by Jiang Xuan, and then poured the stones in the rattan basket onto the ice.
"Chi chi chi..."
The hot stones continued to radiate heat, and the hard ice cubes melted quickly and dented.
Until then, everyone finally understood why Jiang Xuan asked them to light a bonfire and burn the stones.
If it weren't for these red-hot stones, it would take a lot of effort to cut through the hard and thick ice.
…
Congratulations to book friend "Qingtangl" for becoming the helmsman of this book, thank you Qingshi.
