Chapter 260

Only after entering the room could, one more intuitively understand why Bao Xing had shouted about hatching little birds earlier, not little ducklings.

Inside the room, on the heated kang bed, little creatures of various colors—gray, multicolored, white, red...—were chirping and cheeping as they followed behind several cubs.

This batch of eggs contained not only wild ducks and mountain pheasants but also several types of mountain fowl they usually ate.

Besides these seven or eight that had hatched, there were still over forty unhatched eggs in the dry grass on the kang bed.

It must be said, collecting so many eggs was quite not easy.

This wasn't like later times where if you wanted to raise poultry, you could just go buy some chicks or ducklings.

In the entire Heiyao City, only Qi Bai had ducks—and all three were female ducks. Although they laid eggs, they weren't responsible for hatching ducklings.

Knowing Qi Bai wanted to raise more poultry, Wolf Ze had been paying extra attention during patrols.

After the weather warmed up, traces of wild beasts gradually appeared in the mountains and forests. Wolf Ze quickly found wild ducks nesting by the lake.

Seeing the City Lord everywhere collecting wild duck eggs, other warriors also started paying attention during their patrols.

Many hands make light work. Soon, the mountain fowl around several nearby mountains and streams suffered misfortune. Wolf Ze didn't stand on ceremony either, exchanging for as many as he could, gathering a full) fifty eggs for Qi Bai.

Even though these eggs were colorful and hatching them was like opening a mystery box, Qi Bai felt quite reassured and wasn't worried about poisonous snake eggs being mixed in.

Although he didn't have much wilderness knowledge, Wolf Ze and the patrol warriors were all highly experienced.

Even if the egg owners weren't home, they knew exactly what kind of mountain fowl lived in what kind of nest. All the ones brought back were species they usually ate.

Precisely because of this, Qi Bai felt reassured enough to leave the egg-hatching task to the cubs.

The little chubby boy running at the front had already grabbed a little wild duck from the kang bed and was cupping it in both hands to present to Qi Bai: "Duck duck."

Qi Bai looked at the little wild duck's adorably clumsy appearance in the little boy's hands and couldn't help but smile, his eyes curving.

With these little mountain fowl, his breeding plan was finally about to have a qualitative leap.

As long as they raised these little guys well, they would have more mountain fowl eggs. With eggs, they would have more meat...

Braised chicken, roast duck, iron pot stewed goose, egg rolls, cake, egg fried rice...

Thinking of these delicious foods, Qi Bai's moved tears couldn't help but flow from the corner of his mouth.

He wiped the corner of his mouth inconspicuously), smiled, and patted the little chubby boy's head: "So amazing. You've really been a great help."

Then he took a few pieces of brown sugar from the small bag he always carried and handed one small piece to the little boy.

"Wow!" The little boy immediately threw the little wild duck in his hand away, excitedly took the brown sugar from Qi Bai, his chubby little face smiling like a flower.

Seeing this, the other little cubs also ran over to hug Qi Bai's legs. Qi Bai smiled and gave each one a small piece.

"We get to eat candy!""We get to eat candy!"

The cubs shouted, each as happy as if it were New Year.

A beastman tucked back her hair and smiled shyly at Qi Bai: "High Priest, this is something everyone should do anyway."

There were adults in the room. The beastman before him, Yun Xian, was the owner of this house.

Hatching eggs required a warm environment, and the heated kang needed to be kept burning 24/7.

Although the cubs had all patted their chests saying they could handle it, they were still just five or six-year-old children after all. The adults of this household would come back from time to time to check, help the cubs tend the fire, occasionally chop some firewood for them. Actually, the tasks truly requiring the cubs' effort weren't that many.

In the Yun Valley tribe's residential area, two to three hundred houses had already been built.

The order of house construction had priorities, so which tribespeople could move in first had to be decided. Who got to live and who didn't involved many considerations.

However, because each tribe had borrowed methods from the Black Mountain tribe, no disputes due to uneven distribution had arisen in the city so far.

After city construction began, the Black Mountain workers started their second round of competitions.

They still calculated points based on the amount of work done. But this time, besides being able to exchange points for qualification to join the Black Mountain tribe, they could also choose houses in order based on their points.

The beastmen of the other four tribes didn't have such good calculation skills. Calculating points daily was unrealistic, so Qi Bai gave them a suggestion.

That was to use food for bidding. Each house had a base price, and on that basis, everyone could bid higher. Those who bid higher could move into houses earlier, while those who bid lower would have to choose later.

The Yun Valley, Battle Bear, and Giant Deer tribes were originally large tribes from the Northern Wastelands. Unlike the Black Mountain workers who had no assets, this time the tribes actively migrated, and everyone brought their property/possessions. Each family had some surplus food to varying degrees.

Some wealthier beastmen would take out some food to exchange for a house early, especially the houses built by Xiong Feng and others, which were very popular, as these houses were much more regular than those they built themselves.

The collected food would then be made into meals and redistributed to the working tribespeople. Strictly speaking, this could also be considered an indirect form of employment.

Such evaluations and biddings were held once a month, making the slaves from the other three tribes extremely envious. They particularly envied the slaves from the Sanghuo tribe.

They were all slaves, but the Sanghuo slaves were luckily taken away by the Black Mountain tribe and could exchange for houses without extra food.

As slaves, where would they have had surplus food before? If they wanted to exchange for a house, they had to start saving food from now on.

Qi Bai naturally knew about these situations, but he didn't intend to interfere.

Unless everyone ate from a communal pot, wealth disparity would eventually appear. He and Wolf Ze only needed to grasp the general direction, ensuring everyone could rely on their abilities to have enough food and clothing.

And according to the traditions of the beastmen continent, slaves were originally the private property of ordinary beastmen. Now that these slaves had become city residents, the ordinary beastmen of the three tribes had also suffered losses.

The slaves doing a bit more work to compensate for the ordinary beastmen's losses might not be a bad thing, allowing them to live more confidently/justifiably in the future.

As for many people thinking that exchanging houses with points was much cheaper than using food, that was entirely them thinking too simply.

The wool always comes from the sheep's back. How could someone as shrewd/astute as Yang Luo let the workers take advantage? But the tricks involved were something Yang Luo would definitely not reveal.

Yun Xian's house was exchanged jointly with his partner, Yun Bian.

Being able to exchange for housing in the first batch meant the two were famously "wealthy households" back in the Yun Valley tribe.

Wealthy households in the tribe represented outstanding hunting and gathering abilities; otherwise, they couldn't have raised such a chubby cub.

At that moment, Yun Bian had already gone out with the hunting team, leaving only Yun Xian and the cub Yun Zao at home. Since the house was empty anyway, Yun Xian vacated a room for Yun Zao and his little friends to hatch eggs together.

Qi Bai thanked Yun Xian: "You work outside every day and still have to look after my eggs. You've been putting in effort."

Dazzled by Qi Bai's warm smile, Yun Xian's already rosy cheeks turned even redder. He stammered: "Being able... to help the High Priest makes me very happy." After speaking, he sneaked a couple more glances at Qi Bai.

In these times, people spoke directly. Even beastmen with somewhat shy personalities never stinted on expressing their joy.

Although Yun Xian said that, clear accounts make good friends. Qi Bai wouldn't shortchange him on the payment/reward he deserved.

Looking at the remaining forty-plus mountain fowl eggs on the kang bed, Qi Bai thought for a moment and said to Yun Xian: "The weather hasn't completely warmed up yet, and these little ones have just hatched. I'm afraid taking them out might freeze them to death). I might have to trouble you to look after them for a few more days."

"It just so happens that there are still so many eggs on the kang. I'm thinking of waiting a few more days, then taking all the hatched mountain fowl away together."

From Qi Bai's experience, after the first batch of eggs hatched, the others would also hatch one after another. The ones left behind in the end would probably be dead eggs; continuing to incubate them wouldn't produce little pheasants or ducklings.

Yun Xian replied: "High Priest, feel free to leave them here."

As for the food for these little mountain fowl, it would still have to rely on the cubs.

Many wild grasses had already grown on the plains. Bao Xing and the others had all followed Qi Bai to feed the little wild ducks before. Finding some food for them wasn't difficult.

Qi Bai thought for a moment, went outside, and carried down two large wicker baskets) from his oxcart. He laid thick dry grass at the bottom of the large baskets before bringing them inside.

After all, this house was meant for people to live in. Most poultry had straight digestive tracts. Qi Bai didn't want them making someone's new home stinky.

These large wicker baskets could just serve as nests.

Finally, taking a look at the still motionless eggs on the kang bed, Qi Bai pushed his small cart towards the north of the city.

Unlike the south city concentrated with residential areas, besides the City Lord's Mansion and High Priest's Mansion, most of the north city consisted of office and workshop areas. At that time, the construction progress in these places was still not high.

Qi Bai pushed the small cart to the open space at the very north. Strictly speaking, this was part of his High Priest's Mansion's territory.

Although the weeds around the High Priest's Mansion had been cleared away, construction hadn't actually started yet. Besides a few places where canals were being dug, there were large stretches of open space everywhere.

Only under a large tree were some tools scattered about. The most conspicuous among them were two large stone pots and a two-meter-long large stone trough.

These were the tools Qi Bai prepared for papermaking.

He carried down the three bundles of soaked tree bark from the cart, cut them into suitable lengths with a bone knife, placed them separately into the water of the stone pots and stone trough, and finally mixed in plant ash.

After lighting a fire under the stone trough and stone pots, Qi Bai found a spot where he could bask in the sunlight, sat down, and started weaving paper-making screens.

In ancient papermaking methods, the pulp was dispersed in a pool and needed to be scooped up sheet by sheet with tools.

Qi Bai remembered from his childhood textbooks, in the introduction to papermaking, there were simple illustrations with many large frames standing upright. Those frames in the picture were used for drying paper—the paper-making frames.

The paper-making frames were used to fix the paper's shape. To make the paper smooth and fine, a paper-making screen needed to be added inside the frame.

With Qi Bai's two years of bamboo weaving skills, just a slightly finer bamboo screen couldn't stump him.

This time, Qi Bai didn't choose the simpler cross-weaving method but used thin bamboo strips to weave in one direction.

Although this made the weaving speed slightly slower, the resulting paper-making screen could guarantee water filtration efficiency while keeping the paper's texture consistent.

Since he was already determined to do it, Qi Bai wasn't afraid of delaying this bit of time. Moreover, he had many helpers.

"High Priest brother, are you going to cook these tree barks to eat?"

Qi Bai had only sat down for a short while when a cub asked curiously.

Qi Bai patiently explained: "Not for eating. These tree barks are what I'm going to use to make paper. Boiling them first makes them softer. Later, when we pound the pulp, it will be easier."

Since they saw Qi Bai sometimes bringing bamboo here to weave screens, these little cubs had sought him out.

At first, they just secretly crouched behind large trees in the distance peeking. Seeing Qi Bai not only didn't get angry but instead smiled warmly at them, they gathered courage and came closer.

Most of these cubs were from the three tribes and had never been in close contact with Qi Bai before.

The adults at home had taught them to respect Qi Bai, even more than the priests and leaders of their former tribes.

But they couldn't yet understand the meaning of City Lord and High Priest. They only knew this was the pretty brother they saw during the ceremony, and this pretty brother was very kind. Hence, the address "High Priest brother" came about.

Nowadays, everyone was busy, and no one could help Qi Bai weave bamboo screens. But the number of paper-making screens needed for papermaking was indeed considerable. Seeing the children were curious, Qi Bai started teaching them how to weave the screens.

Like with Bao Xing and the others, as long as these cubs could weave one qualified bamboo screen, Qi Bai would reward them with a little brown sugar.

Back and forth, many cubs heard the news and ran over. Every day, over a hundred cubs could gather on this open space of the High Priest's Mansion.

These cubs were all quite young. Actually, not many could truly help Qi Bai weave screens.

Cubs aged seven or eight and above in the city who could do a bit of work had basically all gone to help the adults. Those even younger might not even be able to maintain human form; they just came over to play in the mud on the side.

So even though he had so many children here every day, after more than ten days, only a few dozen paper-making screens had been completed.

But Qi Bai didn't look down on them.

It was fine if they couldn't make screens. These children running around on construction sites was dangerous anyway. His place was open and spacious, without many pits and hollows. He considered it helping everyone look after children.