Chapter 189: Feeling Ashamed
Chapter 189: Feeling Ashamed
Qing Yan was completely dumbfounded. He did not know what to say for a moment. From his memory, no one in the Tribe could read or write.
How was it different from the past? It was one thing for the new Shaman to be literate, but he was even teaching these characters to the children. This was really quite unexpected for Qing Yan. He watched on for a good while to confirm they were indeed being taught how to read and write.
Qing Yan came back to his senses and asked, “How long has the Shaman been teaching them to read and write? Can you do it too?”
“It’s been quite some time now, and I know a bit. What the Shaman teaches isn’t that difficult, it’s easy to learn.” Yan Jiao said in a lowered voice.
Recently, not just the children, but adults would also gather every few days to learn.
However, it was done in batches. After all, there were many things to do in the Tribe, and it was not possible for everyone to gather at once to learn how to read and write.
They were divided into several groups to learn, of course, starting with simple numbers.
An adults’ comprehension ability was naturally better than children, Thus, lessons for them were longer, and more was taught at once.
“Does this mean we can also learn how to read and write?” Qing Yan asked, mouth agape. After all, literacy was usually only found in Large Tribes. He never expected the Flame Dragon Tribe to one day be literate, with the Shaman personally teaching. This truly surprised him.
“Of course, the next time the Shaman teaches, you can join in and listen to his class.” Yan Jiao nodded.Qing Yan thoughtfully nodded, starting to look forward to the next session.
About ten minutes later, Su Bai collected the papers the children had written from memory, then checked them, and began to reward and punish the group of children accordingly.
After finishing all this, Su Bai strode out, and when he reached the doorway, the Chieftain greeted him.
Su Bai responded with a ‘En’ and continued on his way. Meanwhile, the children, seeing how the Shaman had left, also rushed out of the classroom.
“What do we do now?” Qing Yan asked, seeing that the children had all left and the Animal Hides around the classroom had been drawn down.
“What’s coming next is the main point.” Yan Jiao led the three of them into the classroom.
After the classroom was sealed off, the tables and chairs were moved to one side, clearing out a large open space.
The paper-making stone mill, ceramics turntable, and weaving frame were all brought out, along with some raw materials.
“What are they doing?” Qing Yan asked, puzzled.
“Making paper, creating ceramics, and weaving linen.” Yan Jiao said with a hint of pride.
He did not know why, since these things were clearly not invented by him, but when introducing them, a sense of pride spontaneously arose within him. This feeling might be because the Tribe was getting better and better everyday, so he was particularly happy when introducing the things that made it possible.
“What’s paper-making? And what’s creating ceramics?” Qing Yan felt he had absorbed too much information today. So, his head was buzzing as he continued, “I know about linen, but…”
“But when did our Tribe learn to make linen? Is this also taught by the new Shaman?” Yue finished Qing Yan’s sentence.
“All of these were thought up by the Shaman. When the Shaman said we could make linen too, I was really shocked.” Cang Shi heartily laughed.
Yan Jiao walked up to the linen weaving machine and said, “Just watch, this thing is really amazing.”
Qing Yan naturally did not want to miss something so novel. His green eyes were staring intently at the wooden machine.
A woman from the Tribe began weaving according to the steps taught. With the sound of the wooden machine, after more than an hour, a roll of linen was produced.
Qing Yan held the roll of linen, surprised as he said with wide eyes, “It really made linen!”
Yue also watched very carefully, reaching out to touch the linen, saying, “It feels very comfortable to touch.”
“Most of our Tribe’s dried meat is exchanged for this linen. Otherwise… with over three hundred people in the Tribe, nearly half would go hungry.” Yan Jiao solemnly said.
“By the way, when I was coming, didn’t Shu Feng say our Tribe only had about seventy people left?” Qing Yan did not understand why there were now over three hundred people, and most of them were people he did not recognize.
Yan Jiao put down the linen in his hand and said, “Because the Shaman accepted people from several other Tribes.”
“The Shaman accepted people from other Tribes? Why?” Qing Yan asked, puzzled.
“With just the seventy-odd people left in our Tribe, it would be impossible to reclaim the Ancestral Land. Those two hundred plus people are our best helpers.” Yan Jiao bluntly stated.
At first, he did not truly understand it either. At the time, the Tribe already did not have enough meat to eat. Yes, they had successfully made the trade, but the people back home were still hungry. Yet, they were going to suddenly accept over two hundred more people. Food was one problem, housing was another problem. However, after he understood the real situation, he could not help feeling ashamed of his own narrow-mindedness.
Of course, he did not think as far ahead as Su Bai did. He only thought about these people being from other Tribes, and problems like whether they could truly be loyal to the Tribe. He did not consider that these people, having been Wanderers for so long, really just wanted a stable Tribe. As long as they were given food, they were ready to lay down their lives for the Flame Dragon Tribe.
The Flame Dragon Tribe relying solely on having children to expand was almost impossible. This was the only way for them to quickly grow. To accept people from other Tribes. It was the fastest and most convenient method, which also helped provide more Totem Warriors.
“Reclaim the Ancestral Land?” Qing Yan was taken aback for a moment, then continued to ask, “You’re saying we’re going to reclaim the Ancestral Land?”
“Of course. We must reclaim the Ancestral Land,” Yan Jiao suddenly forcefully declared.
Qing Yan also nodded without hesitation, responding firmly, “That’s right, we must reclaim it.”
“I’ll take you to train in a moment. First take a look at the linen and ceramic production.” Yan Jiao’s tone began to soften.
“En, being able to make linen is incredible. The new Shaman is really capable.” Qing Yan began to slowly admire Su Bai from the bottom of his heart. After all, from what he knew, linen was the exclusive product of the Leafy Hemp Tribe. Other Tribes simply did not have the ability to produce linen.
“Ceramics are made by Ru.” Yan Jiao continued to introduce everything in the classroom.
Qing Yan of course knew Ru, he smiled slightly at him, then watched him do his thing.
A piece of clay, under Ru’s skilled operation, became a round ball. When placed on a flat surface that spun, it transformed into another shape.
“This… what’s happening?” Qing Yan was shocked.
Yue also watched intently, seeing the original clay ball turn into something shaped like a bowl. She was also amazed by this.
“This is the process of making ceramics. The bowl you just ate noodles out of was made like this/” Yan Jiao became proud again.
“That’s amazing,” Qing Yan repeatedly exclaimed, crouching down to carefully watch what Ru did. He asked, puzzled, “But why is the colour different?”
What he saw was still the colour of earth-yellow, which did not match the colour of the bowl he ate noodles from this morning.
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