Chapter 782: Bai Xue Eating Green Apricots The cave where the Flying Snake Tribe once lived had long been abandoned ever since Han Cheng and Third Senior Brother established the Copper Mountain residential area. Basically, nothing would bring anyone here anymore. Therefore, it looked completely deserted. At that moment, an old, primitive man, sneaking along nervously, stood inside the empty and dilapidated cave, looking around cautiously. After the initial tension and anxiety passed, his whole heart was now filled with joy. This cave had been deserted for a long time, and the evil tribe no longer lived here, which was excellent news for their own tribe. After being excited for a while, he scratched his head in puzzlement as he looked at the dust-covered cave entrance. He couldn’t quite understand why such a strong and evil tribe would have moved away. For origınal chapters go to 𝘯𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭•𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘦•𝘯𝘦𝘵 After all, they were very powerful. Suddenly recalling a scene he had seen not long ago, he was moved. Once the heavenly fire happened, the prey living here would flee, making it hard to find food later. Thinking this over, the old primitive man nodded, feeling he had uncovered the truth. But then, recalling the size of the forest burned by the heavenly fire, he hesitated. The answer he had been sure about just moments ago now felt uncertain. Because he realized that merely having such a large area burned would not significantly affect a tribe, forcing them to relocate. Moreover, this tribe not only hunted and gathered fruits but also raided other tribes. After some pondering without any clear answer, the old primitive man decisively cast aside the question, looking at the empty cave and returning to his joy. Because no matter the reason, with this evil tribe gone, they could live peacefully without fear of being caught by them. By now, he no longer showed the shrinking and timid demeanor he had when entering. He proudly strode back and forth in this once fearsome cave, like a rooster who had just beaten all the others and climbed on and off a hen’s back. After a while, the old primitive man began to leave this cave where he had flaunted his might, carrying his weapon and heading back. As he walked, his head held high, chest puffed out, gripping his wooden club, he strutted arrogantly as if he had driven away the evil Flying Snake Tribe all by himself with just a stick. While walking , a sudden regret crept into his mind. He had planned to show off to some younger tribesmen how fast he could run when chased, to impress them. But now, that chance was lost. Though regretful, his steps remained as arrogant as ever — even more than a rooster practicing its strut after laying an egg. It seems that the shameless act of “biting the hand that feeds you” is not unique to Great Divine Child Han, but also common among native people sometimes. As he strutted on, the old primitive man suddenly stopped, looking puzzled toward where he had come from. It was empty there. The few younger tribesmen who were supposed to wait for him had vanished. This unexpected discovery made the old primitive man, who had planned to boast before them, feel very disappointed. He looked around carefully but saw no sign of them and began to feel uneasy, then started shouting. Unlike before, his voice was now loud. Because he had already been to that evil tribe’s residence and seen the empty cave, he knew that shouting now wouldn’t attract anyone except his own tribe. However, sometimes the world loves to play cruel jokes, catching you off guard. The old primitive man, who had been confident moments ago that no one else would come, suddenly stared wide-eyed at the dozen or so people running toward him, surrounding him. These people running at him were not the tribesmen he expected. With his own tribesmen gone, these strangers approached aggressively, and this was the evil Flying Snake Tribe’s territory… Before he could sort out his chaotic thoughts, the old primitive man turned and fled without hesitation. Sometimes, fate is merciful: the old man who had just lamented not running fast enough was suddenly no longer regretful. Not only was he no longer regretful, but he was also frightened. But one thing the old primitive man said was true: when chased by enemies, he really ran very fast. After capturing the few people left behind, Third Senior Brother and some others waited outside the wall for this man to come back, planning to catch him. Third Senior Brother figured that with so many of them, catching this one person wouldn’t be hard, so they didn’t wait too long. Hearing the man’s loud howls because he couldn’t find his companions, they emerged from hiding. Watching the old primitive man run faster and farther away, Third Senior Brother suddenly stopped, quickly drew an arrow from his quiver, pulled the bowstring, aimed briefly, and released… Running like the wind, glancing back as he fled, the old, primitive man looked back at Third Senior Brother and his group, which was far behind. Even while escaping, a sense of pride welled up in his heart. After all this time, he could still run this fast when chased. The only regret was that no one in his tribe saw it… Just as he thought this, the old primitive man turned and seemed to see something flying toward him. Before he could react, he felt a sharp pain in his leg and was uncontrollably thrown to the ground. He ran fast, but this fall was harsh. Still, his body was truly strong. After such a hard fall, he quickly struggled up from the ground. With one leg pushing off, he even ran quite fast. However, missing a leg significantly slowed him down. As he hopped desperately, frequently looking back in terror, the strangers closed in rapidly. With a terrified scream, the old primitive man was kicked to the ground by a Green Sparrow Tribe warrior. Before he could get up, he was firmly pinned down, unable to move. Someone nearby quickly pulled out a rope from their waist and, with a few quick moves, firmly tied this guy up. Within the Green Sparrow Tribe, thanks to Lame — a highly skilled and very creative weaving craftsman — the tribe’s rattan armor has been upgraded and modernized. Luckily, Lame developed the improved rattan armor quite early, and the tribe hadn’t produced many of the first-generation rattan armors yet. Otherwise, the manpower and resources needed for this upgrade would have been much greater. Now, Lame, who has earned consistent recognition and praise from the tribe’s three pillars — the Divine Child, the Shaman, and the Leader — is working enthusiastically in front of the carpenter’s workshop, weaving rattan armor. While weaving, he talks, explaining the new weaving method to several apprentices gathered around. During this, one apprentice couldn’t help but scratch his smooth bald head, feeling overwhelmed. He had only just learned the old weaving method, but before he finished even one complete set of armor, that method was abandoned, and now he had to learn a new one. His master innovates too fast… This young apprentice observed, trying to memorize the new weaving technique, while silently grumbling to himself. Lame was unaware of the apprentice’s grumbling and kept weaving excitedly, his fingers moving quickly. Han Cheng watched Lame and those learning from him quietly for a while and couldn’t help but smile. Only living in this era can one truly appreciate the significant impact of an excellent craftsman. Han Cheng always felt fortunate to have Lame in the tribe. After all, Han Cheng’s own hands-on skills weren’t strong enough, and there were many other matters to attend to. Without an outstanding craftsman like Lame, the tribe could never have developed to this level. After quietly observing Lame’s teaching for a while, Han Cheng left without disturbing them. For the tribe to develop further, just having a large population isn’t enough. To advance, more people with more skills are needed. Carpenters, weavers, stonemasons, coppersmiths, and farmers… these skilled individuals are a powerful force driving the tribe forward. Of course, in addition to these, there is also textile production. As someone from the future, Han Cheng knew clearly that once society developed to a certain level and connected with a broad external market, those seemingly ordinary pieces of cloth — woven from many fine threads in simple horizontal and vertical patterns — would unleash tremendous power. Thinking of cloth naturally reminded him of Bai Xue. Within the Green Sparrow Tribe today, Bai Xue’s name has become somewhat inseparable from words like mulberry silkworm and weaving. Han Cheng thought that if things continued to develop , many years later, when the tribe’s descendants looked back at their ancestors and mentioned Bai Xue, it might be just like how people of his own time spoke of Leizu. First, they would think of Leizu raising silkworms and starting to weave. Only afterwards would they recall that Leizu was the wife of the Yellow Emperor. Smiling to himself, Han Cheng shook off this somewhat fanciful and distant thought. No matter what future generations thought, Bai Xue was the little child bride he had brought back — and the one who had given birth to his son. Thinking this to himself, Han Cheng arrived outside the silkworm room and saw Bai Xue there, caring for the silkworms along with a few women from the tribe. Seeing Bai Xue inside, Han Cheng couldn’t help but swallow several times. Not because Bai Xue suddenly looked so beautiful that it was hard for Han Cheng to keep his composure. Nor was it because he had become unusually thirsty or lustful in broad daylight. Instead, it was because after sprinkling some mulberry leaves into a basket containing silkworms, Bai Xue casually reached into her clothes pocket and took out a clean, pigeon-egg-sized green apricot. She bit into it and chewed with relish. Han Cheng was familiar with the apricot trees surrounding the tribe. In recent years, although he had also been teaching Tu Ba to try grafting on the seedlings to improve the apricot varieties, this task required a very long time, and progress so far had been minimal. Just considering the apricot trees, excluding the seven or eight trees that died because of Han Cheng’s and Tu Ba’s relatively poor grafting attempts, the rest bore slightly larger apricots than before, but the taste hadn’t changed much. In the future, the high-quality green apricots were already good enough to make Han Cheng grin widely. Now, the tribe’s green apricots tasted at least twice as rich as those from the future. Since the time he ate a green apricot so sour that even meat porridge at night made his teeth ache, Han Cheng never dared to eat green apricots again. Not only that, but he also developed the habit of drooling uncontrollably whenever he saw others eating green apricots. Now, watching Bai Xue munching on sour green apricots without even frowning, Han Cheng could only swallow hard and feel deep admiration. To be able to eat such sour apricots with that kind of spirit, Han Cheng couldn’t help but admire her. She hadn’t had such a fierce appetite for green apricots in previous years. Why now? After swallowing a few mouthfuls of saliva, Han Cheng wondered with some puzzlement…